A last-minute decision to purchase knives en-route to a drug deal would ultimately end the life of a 53-year-old man with $10,000 to spend, a Brisbane court has been told.
Two young men pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Paul Rock who was stabbed in a hotel car park west of Brisbane on July 1, 2019.
Beau Andrew John Smith, 29, and Kye Enright, 24, had a feeling the deal might not go to plan, crown prosecutor Philip McCarthy told the Brisbane Supreme Court on Friday.
The pair had assumed they were going to sell methamphetamine to two women and late in negotiations they discovered Mr Rock was involved.
Delays in the deal had made him increasingly angry and he had told a third party he was no longer prepared to pay full price, the court was told.
After discovering Mr Rock's involvement, Smith and Enright stopped at a supermarket to buy two knives and a pair of tongs as to not raise suspicions.
It took about 15 minutes for the meeting in the car park of the Porters Plainland Hotel, an hour west of Brisbane, to descend into violence.
No evidence before the court could explain what triggered Enright to throw the first punch, but Smith's lawyer suggested his client didn't know about a possible price discrepancy before he arrived.
Immediately prior the two younger men supplied the drug GHB to Mr Rock and a woman he was with.
CCTV footage showed the older man appearing to get the better of Enright, and Smith could be seen stabbing Mr Rock after taking a knife taken from their car, the court was told.
Multiple stab wounds in the shoulder, upper arm and thigh were sustained, and Mr Rock later died from heart failure caused by blood loss.
Both men are facing one count of manslaughter, two counts of supplying a dangerous drug relating to the GHB and unlawful use of a motor vehicle.
Smith is also facing a raft of other charges, most of which are drug related.
They will be sentenced at a later date.
