Alleged victim was ‘fleeing’: Jury hears wound theory in teen’s murder trial

A Sunshine Coast man was killed in a “savage and violent attack”, stabbed 35 times by his partner’s child who was “the aggressor” on the fatal night, a jury has been told in closing statements.

Police at the scene on the Sunshine Coast in September 2022. Picture: Patrick Woods.

A Sunshine Coast man was killed in a “savage and violent attack”, stabbed 35 times by his partner’s child who was “the aggressor” on the fatal night and spoke of having “shanked” the alleged victim, a jury has been told.

But the juvenile’s lawyer said the then 16-year-old was acting in self defence - scared, intoxicated and fearful he may die if he didn’t lash out with a knife.

The youth, who is now 18 but can’t be identified, has pleaded not guilty to murdering the 42-year-old man at their Sunshine Coast home on the night of September 7 2022.

In her closing address Crown prosecutor Rebecca Marks told the jury that 10 of the stab wounds were inflicted with severe force.

“(He) died from, at the very least, the two stab wounds to the heart, which were independent and fatal,” she said.

“The knife used by the defendant in this attack was no ordinary knife. This is a weapon.”

The teenage boy pleaded not guilty to murder.

The trial, which began last week in Brisbane’s Supreme Court, has heard the blade used was 10.7cm in length and 2.7cm wide.

Ms Marks said injuries on the back of the man’s arms were defensive.

“He was trying to defend himself. He was trying to protect himself by putting his arms up in front of himself,” she said

A “plausible scenario” to explain stab wounds to the man’s back was he had been “fleeing” or turned his back on the defendant.

“Meanwhile (the defendant) had no injuries .... except for one superficial cut to the base of his index finger,” Ms Marks said.

“One possible mechanism, though, is the defendant’s hand slipping on the knife when he’s thrust it into the deceased.

“The only person who bore the marks of defending himself from a savage attack was (the complainant).”

The court heard after the stabbing the teenager was frantically apologising, saying the man deserved it and the man was trying to kill him.

“(His mother) repeatedly asked what happened and he said words to the effect of he shanked him,” Ms Marks said.

“You might think that all the evidence points to the defendant being the aggressor.”

But the teenager’s barrister Charlotte Smith said it was the deceased who was the aggressor and her client had been defending himself.

“This is not a trial about what caused (the complainant’s) death. My client admits he was responsible for the wounds that were inflicted,” she said.

“What is in contest is whether he intended it, the unlawfulness of it.”

The youth had told the jury from the witness stand that the two of them had been drinking in the laundry when the man started talking about “drugs and violent stuff”.

This apparently included talk about having set someone on fire and bashing someone he met at a pub.

The defendant said he was scared to the point of crying and the man called him a “f*****g pussy”.

In the kitchen he claimed the man grabbed him and when they separated he pulled out his knife to get the man to stop but he kept walking towards him and tried to reach for the weapon. This is when the boy, who had smoked cannabis that night, said he stabbed the man.

“He struck out with the knife because he had reason to, he thought he would be killed,” Ms Smith said on Tuesday.

“Alternative responses to that situation evaded his scared, 16-year-old, intoxicated brain.”

The trial continues before Justice Frances Williams.

Originally published as Alleged victim was ‘fleeing’: Jury hears wound theory in teen’s murder trial