Stabbing was ‘like a flinch’, says accused
A 20-year-old man says his action in stabbing a knife into the skull of a friend at a party was “more like a flinch”.
He told the jury on the fifth day of his Christchurch District Court trial that the stabbing happened after a fight broke out at a St Albans party and spilled into the street during “one or two minutes of full chaos”.
Nivard Juan Caine Smith, an unemployed Mairehau man, denies the charge of wounding Sam Doyle with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, for a stabbing which left a knife lodged into Mr Doyle’s temple.
Mr Doyle has made almost a full recovery from the stabbing which narrowly missed his optic nerve and carotid artery. The Crown case yesterday was that the stabbing into the skull would have needed “considerable force”.
Smith gave evidence that “all hell broke loose” at the party at a house in Flockton Street, St Albans, on February 16, and he then tried to intervene when someone was being strangled in a headlock. He was dragged down the driveway while doing that, and when he fell he was trampled by the crowd and his right hand was broken.
Soon after, he picked up a knife that was involved in an incident in the street, “to take it out of the situation”. He held it in his left hand inside the pocket of his hooded sweatshirt. He intended to throw it in the river.
Mr Doyle ran up behind him in the street and tried to hit him with his arm, which was in a cast.
“My natural instinct was to put my hand out and block,” Smith told the jury. “I was like a flinch.”
He said he did not realise he had stabbed Mr Doyle, and had not had any intention of harming him. “I intended to protect myself but not to that extent.”
“I didn’t line him up. I didn’t see it. I just kept running,” Smith told the jury.
He said that at the time of the stabbing he was “fearing for his life”. “I was so scared. My intention was to protect myself and get home safely. It was so full on.”
Smith said that at the party he was definitely drunk. “I was at that having-fun stage drunk, where if you have a couple more bourbons you are going to start spewing.”
Crown prosecutor Deidre Orchard said it appeared from the recording of his interview with the police, that Smith was not as drunk as he had claimed. She said he was being staunch rather than being a scared boy, as he claimed. Smith denied that.
He also denied her accusation – from a witness’ evidence – that he had got himself “revved up and aggressive” before he was ejected from the party. He could not remember throwing a bottle.
Mrs Orchard put to him Mr Doyle’s account that he had been tackled to the ground by another person after shepherding Smith away. As he got to he feet, he felt the blow to the side of his head and saw Smith’s right hand pulling away. She referred to other witnesses giving contradictory evidence describing the stabbing with Smith’s left and right hand.
Smith maintained that the stabbing was accidental. “If you are stabbed in the head you are not going to really remember what happened. I’m here to tell the truth.”
The trial is continuing. The Crown finished the presentation of its evidence on Tuesday, and the counsels’ closing addresses are expecting to take place tomorrow.
Category: News
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