Man charged with footballer’s murder ‘feared for safety’ after being followed out of club
A police interview with a man charged with fatally stabbing a Brisbane footballer has been played to a Supreme Court jury.
A man accused of stabbing a Brisbane footballer during a fatal rugby league club brawl told police he was followed from the club before the fight erupted.
Levi John Stephen Elliott is on trial in the Brisbane Supreme Court charged with fatally stabbing Adam John Woodward outside the Brothers St Brendan’s League Club in August 2018.
Mr Elliott has pleaded not guilty to Mr Woodward’s murder.
On the seventh day of the trial, the jury was shown video of Detective Sergeant Brad Williams interviewing Mr Elliott in hospital.
Mr Elliott, clad in a white hospital gown with a bandaged left hand, tells the officer he walked away from the club after being confronted by Mr Woodward.
He repeatedly says he wants to speak to his mother or his lawyer and that he wants to answer questions “to the best of my ability”.
“He (Adam) was carrying on about mum,” Mr Elliott says in the interview.
Mr Elliott tells the officer he was followed up the road by the “footy boys” and Mr Woodward, who was “having a go” at him before he got hit.
“I deadset feared for my safety. I thought he (Mr Woodward) was going to kill me,” he says.
“It’s just self-defence basically.”
In the interview, he says he struggled to remember details of the night as he had been drinking.
Throughout the trial, the jury has been told Mr Elliott antagonised Mr Woodward throughout the night before goading him into a fight outside the club.
Crown prosecutor Caroline Marco told the jury last week Mr Elliott did not like Mr Woodward as he had a dispute with his mother and had “treated his sister badly”.
Mackenzie Siglin, Mr Elliott’s sister, gave evidence on Friday she had a one-off sexual encounter with Mr Woodward but had been “harassed” by him afterwards.
Mr Elliott’s defence counsel has argued he acted in self-defence that night and a butterfly knife – which he purchased online a week before the incident – was used to perform “tricks”.
The trial continues.