Jett McKee’s family speak at sentence hearing over samurai sword killing

The man who killed a rapper with a samurai sword has been lashed in court by the victim’s father who accused him of being ‘judge, jury and executioner’.

An actor who cut down an armed intruder with a samurai sword has been accused of reciting lines in the witness box as he spoke of how the incident “destroyed” his life and he’d never meant to kill.

Blake Davis told his Supreme Court sentence hearing he still did not accept a jury’s verdict that he purposely killed rapper Jett McKee in the middle of a street in Sydney’s inner west.

Davis was convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter in December after he pleaded not guilty to murder, claiming he had been trying to protect girlfriend Hannah Quinn when he delivered the fatal blow.

Blake Davis and Hannah Quinn arrive hand-in-hand at Darlinghurst Court on Friday. NSW. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dylan Coker

An ice-fuelled Mr McKee, 30, had burst into their Forest Lodge home armed with knuckle dusters and a gun that fired blanks before punching Davis and threatening to kill Quinn.

He died after Davis gave chase about 80m down Hereford Street and struck him once in the head with a sword he got for his 18th birthday.

The court was told that Mr McKee was a gambling addict who turned to crime as he prepared for the birth of his first son.

Davis, 31, was found not guilty of murder but a jury ruled he had used unlawful force to kill Mr McKee, while Quinn was found guilty of being an accessory after the factor to manslaughter.

Jett McKee has been remembered as talented and loving father by his family in court.

On Friday Davis apologised to Mr McKee’s family, saying he “never had any intention” of taking his life and claimed to have been stuck in a “nightmare” ever since the incident on August 10, 2018.

He said he was trying to disarm Mr McKee with the sword and stated he did not aim for the rapper’s head.

But crown prosecutor Christopher Taylor accused the ex-NIDA student of lying and suggested he used his acting skills to deliver a “carefully scripted” performance as he faced a maximum of 25 years in jail.

“I suggest that the evidence that you’ve given is not genuine … it is simply the recitation of what you think her honour would like to hear to better your position,” the prosecutor said.

The couple pleaded not guilty to murder at trial. NSW. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dylan Coker

Davis rejected Mr Taylor’s accusations.

“I‘m sitting here under oath telling you the truth,” he said.

“I never, ever had any intention whatsoever to take Jett’s life.

“I want to sincerely apologise for the pain that you have to live with.

“I definitely lost a part of myself knowing I took somebody’s life with my actions. I have not woken up one day feeling like I am myself or that everything is OK or that I can continue on as the person who I was before.”

Blake Davis said he still can’t accept the jury’s verdict. NSW. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dylan Coker

He had a supporter in mother Kim Davis, who said she’d never met a “kinder, more empathetic person”.

Ms Davis said her son had “never shown violence in his whole life” before the deadly attack, which he had not yet come to terms with.

“I have watched my son deteriorate day after day. I have been watching the slow death of my son,” she said.

Ms Davis said her son had at times “more or less demanded” her permission to kill himself.

“I gave my permission … because I didn’t want to see him suffer,” she said.

It came after members of Mr McKee’s family struggled through tears to describe how the brutal death had impacted their lives and robbed them of a son, fiance and father of a young child.

They savaged Davis and said he took the law into his own hands.

Jett McKee’s father Joseph McKee. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dylan Coker

Joseph McKee, Mr McKee’s dad, said he did not condone his son’s last acts but told the court he should have faced the justice system.

Instead Davis appointed himself “judge, jury and executioner”, he said.

Joseph also recalled the shock at seeing his son’s gruesome injuries in a morgue.

Mother Lynn McKee described her “baby” as a talented musician who “accomplished the spectacular”.

She said he was taken away in an act of “unrequired, unnecessary violence”.

“It was effortless to love him and cataclysmic to lose him,” she said.

Hip hop artist Jett McKee died after being struck in the head.

Averil Bowers, Jett McKee’s fiancee and mother of his son, slammed Davis and Quinn for making themselves out to “be the victims” throughout the ordeal.

“I feel you have used every tactic at your disposal to vindicate yourselves,” she said.

Ms Bowers also took aim at the NSW government, saying its gambling laws had let down her partner.

She said the last time she saw Mr McKee on the day of his death he kissed her on the forehead and kissed their son through her stomach.

Averil Bowers said her fiance, Jett McKee, was excited to be a father.

About 30 minutes before he died he sent a text reading, “I love you sleeping beauty, I hope you’re resting well”, she told the court.

Mr McKee would have done his jail time “like a man”, Ms Bowers said.

“The life you cut down in such a cowardly way was more than you will ever be,” she told Davis.

The hearing before Justice Natalie Adams will continue on Friday, March 5.

Justice Adams is expected to sentence Davis on March 12 when Quinn’s sentence hearing will also take place.