KEVIN George Smith, accused of murdering a love rival during a confrontation in the kitchen of a home at Jesmond last year, claims he was acting in self-defence after Daniel Pettersson became "aggressive" and "forced" his way into the house, a jury has heard.
There is no dispute that Mr Smith, 39, was armed with a knife and stabbed Mr Pettersson in the chest during an argument at the house in Michael Street on the afternoon of January 6, 2022.
But Mr Smith on Monday pleaded not guilty to murder and his three-week trial in Newcastle Supreme Court will focus on what happened during the crucial five minutes between when Mr Pettersson arrived at the home looking for his ex-partner and when he collapsed outside suffering a single stab wound to the right side of his chest.
During his opening address, Crown prosecutor Brendan Queenan said both Mr Smith and Mr Pettersson had previously been in a relationship with a woman and those relationships "may have overlapped".
When the woman gave birth to a child in 2020, Mr Smith thought the baby was his, Mr Queenan said.
Later, Mr Pettersson did a paternity test that revealed he was the father, a development which caused "some friction" between the two men.
On the day he died, Mr Pettersson had been trying to contact the woman at the centre of the love triangle, including making 17 calls to her phone and seven calls to her father.
The woman and Mr Smith were at the house in Michael Street when Mr Pettersson pulled up outside about 3.34pm and was told by his ex-partner: "you can't be here".
But Mr Pettersson had spotted Mr Smith moving around inside and pushed past the woman into the house.
The woman was able to get Mr Pettersson to leave, but by now Mr Smith had allegedly appeared near the front door armed with a knife.
During his opening address, Public Defender Peter Krisenthal said Mr Pettersson had arrived "agitated and aggressive" and demanded to know who was in the house.
He said Mr Pettersson had began yelling for Mr Smith to come outside and fight.
Mr Krisenthal said Mr Smith, inside and armed with a knife, refused to come outside and had turned and was walking towards the rear of the house when Mr Pettersson "forced his way into house and went after Mr Smith".
He told the jury the two men ended up in the kitchen where a "physical altercation took place" and Mr Smith was forced to defend himself by stabbing Mr Pettersson in the chest.
"Therefore, the primary issue in this trial is one of self-defence and also what happened, happened almost instantaneously in order to stop an assault and without forming the intent to cause really serious bodily harm," Mr Krisenthal said.
No one else witnessed the fatal confrontation in the kitchen and the next thing anyone saw was Mr Pettersson walking up the hallway bleeding from a wound to his chest.
"He stabbed me," Mr Pettersson said.
He then laid down outside as triple-zero was being called. He died at the scene while Mr Smith fled on foot.
Mr Smith handed himself in six days later and was charged with murder.
The trial is expected to hear from the two crucial witnesses on Tuesday.
