A MAN accused of murdering Eddy Lemalama on Good Friday 2024 was out for "retribution and payback" after being "humiliated" in front of his friends when he twice stabbed the 40-year-old on his front verandah at Windale, a jury has heard.
Jacob Bell, now 23, was the "aggressor" throughout an ongoing dispute with Mr Lemalama and his mate in the tiny lane of Kankool Way, armed himself with a knife before the fatal confrontation and was not acting in self-defence, Crown prosecutor Brendan Queenan said on Monday.
"This was retribution, it was payback, it was anger," Mr Queenan said during his closing address.
"There was simply no self-defence."
He admits stabbing Mr Lemalama, but claims he was acting in self-defence and did not intend to kill or cause him grievous bodily harm.
Mr Queenan said even on Bell's version of what happened, the stabbing was a "pre-emptive strike" and said after picking up the knife during a fight, Bell could have retreated or thrown it away.
"But instead what does he do?" Mr Queenan said.
"He stabs Eddy. Not once, but twice."
Mr Queenan said the dispute between Bell and Mr Lemalama and his mate started two weeks earlier at an 18th birthday party and continued the night before the fatal stabbing.
It was after 3am on March 29, 2024, and two groups in Kankool Way were yelling threats and challenging each other to fight, when Mr Lemalama started calling Bell names, Mr Queenan said.
"The accused's friends were laughing at him and he was humiliated," Mr Queenan said.
"Twelve hours later, the accused was the aggressor again.
"It had been building up... and in that context, the heated environment and animosity, he went over to the house.
"He was aware that it was a volatile situation, and that is why, in my submission, he took a knife with him.
"He was prepared for it to become physical.
"He did not go there to make peace, he went there to sort it out, to bring it to a head.
"And that is why he took a knife, because he expected it to get violent."
Mr Queenan urged the jury to find that after stabbing Mr Lemalama during the fight, Bell dropped the knife and then picked it up before stabbing him a second time.
He said Bell was so angry and determined to get payback that he tried to force his way through the front door while those at the house tried to drag Mr Lemalama inside.
Mr Queenan submitted the jury would reject Bell's evidence and find him guilty of murder.
Bell's case is that he went over to the house where Mr Lemalama was staying to "sort out" the ongoing dispute and just wanted to talk.
He admits he was asked to leave and told to "f--- off", before Mr Lemalama came out and punched him in the head.
The pair exchanged blows and Bell claims he saw Mr Lemalama looking for something before he noticed a knife on the ground.
Bell said he picked up the knife and "just lashed out" at Mr Lemalama, telling the jury he doesn't recall what he was thinking because it happened too quickly.
He said he lashed out "at most a couple" of times and wasn't aiming at anything.
"He just didn't think," defence barrister, Public Defender Stuart Bouveng, said in his closing address.
"He just lashed out.
"And if you accept that that's what he was thinking, then you would find him not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter."
Mr Bouveng also disputed the claims that Bell was motivated by retribution after being humiliated the night before.
The trial continues.
