Man’s emotional reaction to post-mortem pics at murder trial

The man accused of fatally stabbing a Brisbane footballer during a brawl outside a rugby league club reacted emotionally when shown photos in court.

A man accused of fatally stabbing a Brisbane footballer outside a league club has emotionally reacted in court while viewing post-mortem photos of the victim’s body.

Levi John Stephen Elliott became flustered and emotional on the eighth day of his Supreme Court trial, as crown prosecutor Caroline Marco showed him the stab wounds all over Adam John Woodward’s body.

Mr Elliott is accused of stabbing Mr Woodward with a butterfly knife during a brawl outside the Brothers St Brendan’s Leagues Club on August 24, 2018.

He has pleaded not guilty, with his defence council earlier telling the court he had bought the knife to perform “tricks”, and that Mr Elliott had acted in self defence.

Adam John Woodward (pictured) died from multiple stab injuries sustained during a fight outside a Brisbane rugby league club in August 2018. Levi John Stephen Elliott is on trial charged with his murder.

On Wednesday afternoon Ms Marco grilled Mr Elliott over the wounds inflicted to Mr Woodward’s body that he claimed were “defensive”.

“There’s no part of Mr Woodward’s body that was in front of that area preventing you from applying the blade of the knife to his neck, was there?” Ms Marco asked.

Mr Elliott said Mr Woodward was “hitting me” and he wasn’t targeting anything before saying he couldn’t look at the pictures of the body.

“You weren’t there, I’ve had to relive this in my head over and over,” he said.

“No matter how much I try not to see it, it’s always going to be there.”

Mr Elliott denied his actions were “calculated” as he grabbed “whatever he could” to defend himself, cutting his fingers in the process.

He denied removing the knife from his pocket while he was standing up.

Earlier that day, he said “instinct took over” during the fight with Mr Woodward.

When asked by defence barrister Greg Maguire if he intended to kill Mr Woodward, Mr Elliott replied: “Not at all.”

“I didn’t want to do him serious harm, I just wanted to get away,” he told the court.

Mr Elliott gave evidence he was walking up the street away from the club before he heard loud footsteps and “got hit”.

“Next thing I was on the ground, it happened so quick,” he said.

“I was pinned to the ground, I could just see flashes … I feel like instinct took over.

“I was scared as. I felt blood, I felt warmth on my face.”

Mr Elliott told the jury he felt for his knife and tried to defend himself but was not actively “striking”.

He compared the feeling to being pummelled by ocean waves and said his heart was beating through his chest.

The Brothers St Brendan’s Leagues Club in Rocklea.

The court heard Mr Elliott and his friend fled up the road after the incident, fearing they were being chased.

In CCTV footage played to the court, tensions were seen to escalate between the two as they played pool in the club.

Mr Elliott said he was being “cheeky” to Mr Woodward while playing pool but he did not want to fight when confronted by him and his friends.

He told the court later that night Mr Woodward had come onto the balcony while he was having a smoke and “stared” at him.

When asked about the butterfly knife, Mr Elliott gave evidence he looked up YouTube videos of how to perform tricks with it and wanted to do the same.

The jury had earlier been told Mr Elliot had been showing the blade off to others at the club hours before the fight.

In Friday’s hearing, the court heard Mr Woodward and Mr Elliott first met while putting up scaffolding for the football club.

“He seemed like a nice guy” Mr Elliott said.

The trial continues.