Sex, drugs and violence: Woman’s account of fateful afternoon that saw Raymond Smerdelj stabbed

A key witness to the fatal stabbing of Innisfail man Raymond Smerdelj has given her account of the afternoon to the Cairns Supreme Court.

Innisfail man Clay Stone has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and is standing trial in the Cairns Supreme Court. Picture: Facebook

A KEY witness to the events that led to the fatal stabbing of Innisfail man Raymond Smerdelj has given her account of the afternoon to the Cairns Supreme Court.

Clay Peter Stone, 31, has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter over the October 3, 2019 death of Mr Smerdelj, and is on trial.

On the second day of the trial, 25-year-old Brittany Eyles gave evidence of what had happened on the day of Mr Smerdelj’s death and the circumstances leading up to that point.

She told the court she had been in a sexual relationship with Mr Stone in the weeks prior to the incident but that it hadn’t amounted to anything more than that, despite Mr Stone contacting her “almost every day”.

On October 3, Ms Eyles said she was invited over to her friend Shania Barlow’s unit on Edith Street, which adjoined Mr Stone’s unit.

She was there to meet Mr Smerdelj, who was known as Smurf to his friends, she told the court.

After spending some time in the unit with Ms Barlow, her partner Shane Lees, and Smurf, the group went to source some meth before returning, the court heard.

Ms Eyles said she ingested the drug, but didn’t feel much from it as it “wasn’t that good”.

Under cross examination from defence barrister Frank Richards, Ms Eyles said she later that afternoon texted Mr Stone asking if he could source her some ice.

“And in order to receive that drug, you had agreed to provide sex to Clay, is that right?” Mr Richards asked.

The Edith St, Innisfail flats where Raymond Smerdelj was killed. Picture: PETER CARRUTHERS

“Yes,” Ms Eyles said, adding that she had no intention of following through on the deal.

Ms Eyles told the court she had gone into Mr Stone’s room that afternoon to get the drugs from him, and that they had no straws to use as a scoop so Mr Stone had gone to the kitchen to fetch a knife to use instead.

It was about five minutes later that Ms Eyles said Mr Smerdelj came into the house and down the hallway, drink in hand, asking Mr Stone if he could buy drugs off him.

“Clay’s told him no, f*** off, get out of my apartment. Raymond didn’t like that and punched him,” she said.

Mr Stone still had the knife in his hand, the court heard.

Ms Eyles told the court that from her perspective seated on the mattress in Mr Stone’s bedroom, she saw Mr Smerdelj punch Mr Stone in the face several times, before “Clay has rushed into Raymond”.

“And then there was a commotion of Raymond punching into Clay a little more,” she said.

“From my point of view that’s all I saw and then Raymond went out the back.”

Ms Eyles said she went to leave, told Mr Stone to “open the f***ing door” and walked out the back of the unit, where she saw Mr Smerdelj lying face down in the dirt, bleeding.

‘There was blood everywhere, just everywhere,” she said.

Innisfail man Raymond Smerdelj who died at a Edith St block of flats.

Mr Richards suggested to Ms Eyles she had spoken to Mr Stone face-to-face twice throughout the course of the day prior to going into his apartment.

She said she could not recall that being the case.

Mr Richards honed in on Mr Stone’s initial response to being attacked, with Ms Eyles agreeing that he did not physically respond to being punched and had told Mr Smerdelj that his jaw was sore.

“And it was only when the second flurry of punches striking him that he reacted physically, didn’t he?” Mr Richards asked.

“Yes,” Ms Eyles said.

On the first day of the trial, Crown prosecutor Danny Boyle told the jury it was not in question that Mr Stone had killed Mr Smerdelj.

“The critical issue for you to determine is if the killing was unlawful.”

Originally published as Sex, drugs and violence: Woman’s account of fateful afternoon that saw Raymond Smerdelj stabbed