A woman accused of taking part in a samurai sword killing in Sydney’s inner west two years ago told police in an emotional interview that she was shaking and "screaming in horror" after seeing her boyfriend swing the sword into the man’s head.
Blake Davis, 31, and Hannah Quinn, 26, are on trial for murder in the NSW Supreme Court after they allegedly chased Jett McKee, 30, away from Mr Davis’ home on August 10, 2018 following a botched robbery attempt. They have pleaded not guilty.
Hannah Quinn and Blake Davis outside court on Monday.Credit: Edwina Pickles
In an opening statement last month, Crown prosecutor Chris Taylor said Ms Quinn chased Mr McKee from the home and tackled him to the ground after he attempted to rob them wielding a pistol that fired blanks. Mr Davis then hit him in the head with a sword, causing a fatal head injury, Mr Taylor said.
On Monday, the jury was played a police interview with Ms Quinn at Newtown Police Station four days after the incident, where her lawyer and barrister sat behind her.
Ms Quinn, who sobbed throughout the interview, said an armed man burst into the Forest Lodge home – where she stayed a couple of nights a week – and demanded money, then punched Mr Davis in the face. The intruder then stole her handbag and fled.
Jett McKee died at Forest Lodge in August 2018.
She said the man had made threats that he knew where her family lived, so she was "really scared" and gave chase to get her bag back.
"I managed to catch up to him and grab my bag and pull it towards me ... he turned around to me and he tried to punch me, but I like stepped out of the way and he fell over, and was holding a gun up at me," Ms Quinn said.
"I was just frozen. That’s when Blake came up and hit him."
The pair have pleaded not guilty.Credit: Kate Geraghty
Ms Quinn said when Mr Davis hit the man with the sword "there was blood everywhere and I just screamed" and she was thinking "what the f---'s happened, what is happening".
"It’s just the most horrible thing that I’ve seen," she said. "I just saw blood."
Ms Quinn said she turned around and ran with Mr Davis, stopping in a driveway to grab a tarpaulin to cover the sword, before the pair ran back to his home.
"I was just screaming in horror. I was terrified, I was crying," Ms Quinn said. "I don’t think I’ve ever been more shocked in my life."
Ms Quinn said she wasn’t thinking clearly about the possibility of calling an ambulance.
"I knew that guy needed help," she said. "I didn’t know what to do, because he’d just tried to rob us and held us at gunpoint ... I was just shocked, shaking and everything."
Ms Quinn said when she got back to Mr Davis’ house they were both worried that more people were coming after them, so they "panicked", jumped Mr Davis’ back fence "and just ran".
"I noticed Blake grab like a bag and put some stuff in it … which I later found out was like our savings … and he grabbed some weapons because he was really scared," Ms Quinn said.
The court was earlier told that this bag, an UberEats delivery bag, was found filled with $21,000 cash, six sets of nunchucks, an imitation pistol and two mobile phones.
Ms Quinn said they hid in a laneway for "quite a long time" and could hear sirens and a helicopter, before catching an Uber to her house.
"I was just so shocked and couldn’t believe what had happened. I was just crying and shaking and traumatised from what I’d seen," Ms Quinn said.
"Blake’s eye was bleeding really bad ... he was like, sort of blacking out sometimes, he was really not OK. I just didn’t know what to do."
The trial continues.