A teenager accused of murdering Sunshine Coast 16-year-old Balin Stewart has testified that he struck the boy without realising he had a knife in his hand.
The teenager was aged 17 when he was involved in a fatal brawl with Balin believing that his ex-girlfriend had resumed her relationship with the 16-year-old.
Balin died a few metres from his family’s home at Buddina about 10.30pm on January 20 last year after suffering a single stab wound to the heart from a steak knife.
After the prosecution finished presenting its case on Friday, the defendant’s barrister Charlotte Smith told the court that she would call her client as the sole witness for the defence.
The teen told the jury he had travelled five minutes by car to Balin’s home because his ex-girlfriend had sent him provocative videos featuring herself and Balin.
The defendant said he asked Balin if he wanted to fight and Balin told him to come over but not to bring his friends, leading to a confrontation on a grass nature strip outside the home.
“He threw a punch … I sort of flinched out of the way and punched back … I stepped back and I’ve realised the knife is in my hand,” the teen told Brisbane Supreme Court.
He said he initially did not feel like he had stabbed Balin as the teenager “appeared fine”.
“He just walked off … 15 seconds later he just dropped onto his back,” the defendant said.
Under questioning from Ms Smith, he said Balin and his friends had tried “baiting” him via phone calls into attending a party earlier that night so he could be “bashed or worse”.
The teen said he received a text message from a friend stating “bro, don’t come, they have knives with them”.
“I responded with something about a three-on-one knife fight and said I wouldn’t go,” he said.
He said jealousy had caused him to later leave his house to confront Balin.
“I went straight to the kitchen … to the drawer with utensils and got a knife.”
The defendant said he armed himself because he believed at the time Balin and two other boys had knives with them and that made him feel “unsafe and scared almost”.
He said he threw the knife away to his side when he saw Balin was unarmed but retrieved the weapon after the pair exchanged punches and wrestled on the ground, and that he was left in “shock” after Balin collapsed.
“His eyes had rolled back … I said ‘Balin hang in there, I’m calling an ambulance’,” the teen said.
Under cross-examination from prosecutor Rebecca Marks, he said he “strongly disliked” Balin prior to January 20 but conceded he had told friends “I f—ing hate (Balin) so much” and said he wanted to kill him.
Ms Marks will continue her questioning on Monday.
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