A man who used a scooter to strike an axe-wielding man in the head at Raymond Terrace has been found not guilty of murder, a jury accepting he feared for his life and was acting in self-defence.
Kane Flanders, now 32, was on Tuesday morning acquitted of murder over the death of Ashley Morgan, 38.
Morgan died from blunt force head injuries in the middle of Cambridge Avenue about 3am on April 9, 2024.
The verdict means the jury must have accepted Flanders' version that he had only swung the axe once and had not struck or stomped on Morgan while he was on the ground.
Flanders gave evidence last Tuesday that he was on his back in the middle of the road, when Morgan twice swung at him with the axe and he grabbed a metal scooter, jumped up and swung back.
"I thought I was going to die," Flanders said from the witness box in Newcastle Supreme Court.
"He was aiming for my head with an axe."
As well as acquitting him of murder, the jury did not find Flanders guilty of manslaughter on the basis of excessive self-defence.
However, after spending more than two years behind bars awaiting trial, Flanders did not walk free from the dock on Tuesday.
The court heard he has also been refused bail on child sexual assault charges that remain before Newcastle Local Court.
As the Newcastle Herald has reported, Morgan died about an hour after he and his partner arrived in the suburban street and began smashing windows and mailboxes and yelling abuse at residents.
He was spotted on CCTV footage from two houses carrying an axe and had become convinced that residents who had tried to help him had actually drugged and robbed him.
Flanders and his brother came outside to tell the pair to "f--- off", triggering an argument between Flanders and Morgan's partner.
Flanders gave evidence last week that Morgan ran towards him and swung what he thought was a pole.
The swing missed, but Flanders said he told his brother to "go get a shovel or a pole or a machete".
"[I wanted to] try to scare him off, I knew there was no shovel or pole or machete out the front or in the house," Flanders said.
"I was hoping it would scare him off and he would piss off."
He said Morgan then yelled out to his mate up the road and Flanders became concerned they were both going to come and bash him.
"I followed them up the road to get them off the street," Flanders said.
"To keep them away from my house in case they did knock me out or kill me even."
What happened next evolved quickly.
Flanders claims Morgan's partner began hitting him in the face, his brother came over and handed him a scooter and then Morgan swung at him with an axe.
"She kept punching me," Flanders said.
"I went to turn to look at her, by the time I turned back Ash was screaming and running at me, swung the axe at me."
Morgan said a voice captured on CCTV from a house, saying "come on little boy", was Morgan and he was holding the axe above his head.
"By the time I turned back around and seen him swinging it, I ducked my head, it hit me in the back and I fell to the ground," Flanders said.
"I dropped the scooter at the same time.
"By the time I looked back up, he was swinging it again.
"I had to lift my leg up and cover my face and it hit me in the knee."
Flanders said he then jumped to his feet, grabbed the scooter and swung it towards Morgan, striking him in the head.
He described it happening "all in one motion".
He said his intention was to scare Morgan off and he wasn't aiming for anything.
But he said the scooter connected with Morgan's head and he fell backwards onto the roadway, dropping the axe.
"I heard a thump," Flanders said.
"Like he got whiplashed to the ground."
Flanders said Morgan's partner tried to help him to his feet, but he collapsed again and Flanders walked away.
The prosecution case was that Flanders then struck Morgan in the head with the scooter while he was lying on the ground.
Crown prosecutor Brendan Queenan had pointed to three "heavy impact sounds" picked up on CCTV cameras and the panicked voice of Flanders' brother saying: "Kane, that's enough. Hey Kane, that's enough. That's enough".
But Flanders maintained he only hit Morgan once.
"He did yell those things," Flanders said of his brother.
"But I did not hit him while he was on the ground.
"I only hit him once."
After deliberating for more than three days, the jury must have agreed and they returned on Tuesday morning and acquitted Flanders of murder.
The jury could have returned a verdict of not guilty to murder, but guilty to manslaughter on the basis of excessive self-defence.
But they found Flanders had a complete self-defence. The jury found prosecutors had not proven beyond reasonable doubt that what he did was not a reasonable response in the circumstances as he perceived them.
