By Michaela Whitbourn
It was “totally unnecessary” for a Sydney man to strike a home intruder on the head with a samurai sword and he was not acting in self-defence, the Crown has submitted to the jury as his murder trial enters its final stages.
Blake Davis, 31, is standing trial for the murder of home invader Jett McKee on August 10, 2018, following a botched robbery attempt by Mr McKee.
Hannah Quinn and Blake Davis outside the Darlinghurst Supreme Court on Monday.Credit: Sam Mooy
Mr Davis has pleaded not guilty to the charge and has told the court he was acting to save his girlfriend, Hannah Quinn. Ms Quinn, 26, is defending a charge of being an accessory after the fact to murder.
In his closing address to the jury, Crown prosecutor Chris Taylor said: “This is not a case of self-defence. This is not a case of defence of another person.”
Mr Taylor said it was a “senseless”, “totally unnecessary” and “unlawful” attack on Mr McKee, 30, who had been running away from Mr Davis’s Forest Lodge home shortly before the fatal blow.
Mr Davis’s barrister, Margaret Cunneen, SC, has yet to deliver her closing address to the jury. Justice Natalie Adams will then deliver a summing up of the law before the jury retires to consider their verdict.
The court has heard Mr McKee, described by a forensic pathologist as having a “toxic to lethal” level of methylamphetamine, or ice, in his blood, burst into Mr Davis’s home in the afternoon armed with knuckledusters and a pistol that fired blanks.
Mr Davis told the court he remembered Mr McKee holding a gun to their heads and waking up with a bloody head, believing that he had been shot. He said he was told later that he had been hit in the face with knuckledusters.
Mr Davis said he picked up the sword displayed near his front door and ran towards the sound of Ms Quinn screaming outside. He said he believed her life was in danger when he dealt the fatal blow.
Jett McKee (insert) was killed after he tried to rob Hannah Quinn and Blake Davis. Credit: Sydney Morning Herald
But Mr Taylor submitted Mr McKee had been, in the words of one witness, “piss-bolting” away.
“Jett McKee was making his escape. Every step that Jett McKee took the risk he posed ... dissipated,” he said.
He said striking Mr McKee was “totally unnecessary” and there was at least an intention to cause grievous bodily harm, if not to kill.
Mr Taylor said he was sure even the family of Mr McKee would believe he deserved to be held accountable for his crimes, but he was on his way out of the house.
He said the worst decision Mr McKee made in his “short life” was to rob Mr Davis and Ms Quinn, whom he said were “engaged in supply for profit of the illegal drug, cannabis”.
He said Mr Davis had gone “on the run” with Ms Quinn for three nights before going to the police, and the jury might consider this an indication Mr Davis did not believe he was acting to defend himself or his girlfriend.
The trial continues.
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