MOTIVATED by anger and a desire for retribution after he was stabbed in the arm during a dispute over a motorbike, Daniel "Hawko" Hawkins returned to the house at Maryland about half-an-hour later and shot dead Kenneth John Denniss, a jury has been told.
"Hey Ken, come here for a minute," Mr Hawkins, now 31, of Wallsend, called out to Mr Denniss, 38, about 4pm on December 8, 2018.
And when Mr Denniss emerged from the garage, his partner by his side, Mr Hawkins pulled a sawn-off rifle out from behind his back, steadied it atop the fence and fired a single shot, knocking Mr Denniss to the ground.
Mr Hawkins was arraigned before a jury in the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney on Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to murder.
His defence barrister, Public Defender Nathan Steel, told the jury Mr Hawkins did not deny shooting Mr Denniss but maintains he was acting in self-defence and "genuinely believed he needed to discharge that firearm on this day to protect himself."
Mr Steel said Mr Hawkins had not intended to kill Mr Denniss but returned to the house after an earlier altercation because he wanted to warn Mr Denniss off after he claimed Mr Denniss had made a number of threats.
Mr Hawkins claims that when Mr Denniss came out of the garage he had something in his hands, which he believed was a firearm.
"Fearing for his safety he then discharged his firearm," Mr Steel said of Mr Hawkins.
Police searched Mr Denniss's property and found a homemade mace, adorned with nails and syringes, but did not recover any firearms.
Crown prosecutor Georgia Turner said the shooting stemmed from an altercation over a stolen motorcycle, which Mr Denniss had sold to his brother-in-law, a mutual friend of Mr Hawkins, and had later retrieved.
Sometime between 3pm and 3.30pm on the day Mr Denniss was shot, Mr Hawkins came over to his house and saw him washing the motorbike. The pair argued over the bike and Mr Denniss picked up a knife, ran towards Mr Hawkins and cut him on the arm.
Mr Hawkins left the property, returning to a house at Wallsend where he was bandaged up by a woman who allegedly said: "are you going to let him treat you like that" and "go teach him a lesson, you're a weak c--- if you don't." Mr Hawkins was then driven back to the house and fired the fatal shot.
