A man accused of murdering an intruder with a samurai sword in Sydney's inner west was reassured by his mother that it was "a perfectly natural human response" to defend himself, in a covert police recording played in court.
Blake Davis, 31, and Hannah Quinn, 26, are facing a murder trial in the NSW Supreme Court after they allegedly chased Jett McKee, 30, away from Mr Davis’ home on August 10, 2018 and fatally confronted him following a botched robbery. They have pleaded not guilty.
Blake Davis and Hannah Quinn outside court this week.Credit: Edwina Pickles
The court previously heard Mr McKee was armed with knuckledusters and a pistol that fired blanks when he burst into the Forest Lodge home in the middle of the day, wearing a balaclava and demanding money.
Ms Quinn told police Mr McKee punched her boyfriend in the face, causing him to fall down, then stole her bag and fled. She said she gave chase and retrieved the bag, then Mr McKee lost his balance and fell to the ground when he tried to punch her. Mr Davis then struck him in the head with the sword.
Ms Quinn said Mr McKee was pointing the pistol at her while he was on the ground, which made her freeze. The Crown alleges he was on his hands and knees when Mr Davis raised the sword above his head with both hands and swung it down.
On Tuesday, the court was played a number of recordings from police listening devices planted in the home of Mr Davis' mother Kim Davis, including a conversation between the mother and son.
Jett McKee died at Forest Lodge in August 2018.
Mrs Davis told her son when someone is being attacked, "the natural response of any human being is to defend themselves and fight back".
"That's natural," she said. "What you did was a perfectly natural human response. You’ve got to not think 'I'm bad because I did this' … you did what any human being would do."
Mr Davis said if he chopped Mr McKee's leg off, "I'd be standing here going 'f--k that c--t, I chopped his leg off, he deserved it'."
He added that he feels "terrible about doing something horrible".
In another recording, Ms Quinn said she was chasing after the intruder yelling "who the f--k are you".
Police inspect a crime scene after Mr McKee was killed.Credit: Wolter Peeters
The officer in charge of the case, Detective Senior Constable Scott Kelly, agreed that Mr McKee's DNA was found on the handles of an Aldi bag containing cable ties, which was recovered from inside Mr Davis' home.
Mr Davis' barrister Margaret Cunneen SC asked if cable ties could be "used to bind together the wrists".
"On some occasions, yes," Detective Kelly said.
Ms Cunneen said pepper spray was found in Mr McKee's pocket shortly after his death, which is a prohibited weapon. The knuckle dusters Mr McKee had were also prohibited.
"Samurai swords are not prohibited weapons, are they?" Ms Cunneen said.
The detective said a sword was a "dangerous article".
"Can you be given a ticket, or fined or arrested, if you have one in your home?" Ms Cunneen said.
"No," Mr Kelly said.
The court heard 122.1 grams of cannabis was located at Mr Davis' home on Hereford Street, an amount under the trafficable or indictable quantity.
Detective Kelly said inquiries were made with martial arts schools about Mr Davis' level of expertise, and a karate grandmaster from Turramurra confirmed he had progressed from a white belt to a yellow belt. There was no record of tutelage provided in the use of a samurai sword, or any sword.