IN the moments before he was stabbed twice in the chest, the knife piercing his heart, Michael Carroll had been arguing with his daughter before he stood up, walked "aggressively" over and grabbed her, a jury has been told. A woman who witnessed the fatal confrontation between Mr Carroll and his daughter, Maddison Hickson, inside a home at Tenambit in January last year said she saw the pair struggle before hearing a loud "splash" and seeing a pool of blood on the floor.
"When he went at her it was like he put his arms around her and grabbed her," Jasmine Speering said.
Ms Speering said she could not see anything in either Mr Carroll or Ms Hickson's hands and initially had no idea who was bleeding and how they had been injured.
She said Mr Carroll took a step back towards her, bent over and held his chest with both hands. He then walked outside, collapsed and died.
Ms Hickson does not deny stabbing her father during a "struggle" in the loungeroom, but has pleaded not guilty to murder and claims she was acting in self-defence.
The prosecution case is that Ms Hickson stabbed her father out of "anger and frustration" during an escalating verbal argument and was not acting in self-defence.
Ms Hickson's friend, Taylah Renae McDonald, who the prosecution say moved the knife used to stab Mr Carroll into a dishwasher and deliberately misled investigators, has pleaded not guilty to being an accessory after the fact to murder and hindering the discovery of evidence.
Meanwhile, a friend of Ms Hickson's, Aaron Thorley, gave evidence on Wednesday, painting a picture of Mr Carroll in his final days as a man who appeared increasingly paranoid and prone to aggression.
Mr Carroll, who the jury has been told had a long criminal history and a tendency to become violent and use weapons, was a "volatile" and "scary" person, Mr Thorley said.
And Mr Carroll, Mr Thorley said, had developed a belief that Mr Thorley was filming him, that someone had bugged his phone and that there was a "hit" out for him.
Mr Thorley said he went to the house in Ronald Street on January 16 to talk to Ms Hickson about issues he and his father were having with Mr Carroll, but arrived to find Mr Carroll sitting on the lounge.
So when he walked into the house, Mr Carroll immediately became aggressive and began accusing Mr Thorley of things Mr Thorley said were "crazy" and "absurd".
Ms Hickson, Mr Thorley said, told her father to stop and, when he didn't, told him to get out of the house, prompting Mr Carroll to begin abusing Ms Hickson.
Mr Thorley agreed with Public Defender Peter Krisenthal that Mr Carroll had called his daughter "a slut" and "a f---en dog".
"Maddie and Mick were screaming at each other," Mr Thorley said. "Maddie was yelling "get out, it's not my house". "Mick called her a slut, she was going crazy about that. "Maddie said: "f--- you dad, get out". Mick said: "get someone to make me get out"." Mr Thorley said he turned to leave the house and heard the yelling continue as he walked outside.
Within 15 seconds of him being outside, Ms Hickson ran past him towards the car and screamed at Mr Thorley and his friend, Patrick Daniels, to "get me out of here, get me away from him".
As Ms Hickson was being driven away, Mr Carroll can be seen on CCTV walking outside where he died from two stab wounds to his chest.
