Canberra man Joshua Higgins has been found guilty of the manslaughter of Jae-Ho Oh, who was stabbed to death in his home in Canberra's north in 2019, but not guilty of the more serious crime of murder.
In a moment of confusion in the ACT Supreme Court, the jury forewoman said they had found the 32-year-old guilty of murder, before she quickly corrected herself, causing Higgins to let out an audible sigh.
Higgins never denied stabbing his friend, but argued throughout his trial that he had acted in self defence after he woke to find Mr Oh on top of him, with his pants pulled down.
Defence claimed Higgins's actions were driven by PTSD
The trial heard Higgins's life had been unravelling at the time of the crime.
He was estranged from his wife and was staying with his parents.
Some years before he had been the victim of a random attack in Canberra's city centre, when he was set upon by a group of people.
The court heard was left with skull and facial fractures and severe post-traumatic stress disorder.
Higgins's lawyer Kieran Ginges told the ACT Supreme Court jury his client's panicked reaction had been driven by his PTSD, in the wake of his belief he had just been violated by his friend.
But the prosecutor Trent Hickey zeroed in on Higgins's recent use of the drug ice.
The court heard Higgins had been awake for more than 60 hours after taking ice, and had just fallen asleep just prior to the incident.
Higgins addressed the court himself, saying when he objected to Mr Oh's advance, he went to the kitchen and armed himself with a knife.
Higgins said he grabbed the knife in a struggle and that is when he began stabbing Mr Oh.
He said after that Mr Oh retrieved a second knife from the kitchen.
Mr Hickey told the jury the situation escalated from there, beyond what could be regarded as self defence.
"The uncomfortable reality [from all the facts] is that the accused stabbed Jae to death in a frenzied state," he said.
Higgins said he was shocked to learn of Mr Oh's death
Jae-Ho Oh was found in a pool of blood, in a room spattered with blood and a chaotic mess left from the altercation.
He had been stabbed around 14 times and clubbed with a TV screen, a speaker and a statue, which Higgins had thrown at him.
Mr Hickey told the jury it had to decide what a reasonable person would do in those circumstances and whether the scale of the attack was necessary to defend himself.
Mr Hickey suggested the use of ice would not have affected his ability to reason at the time.
Mr Higgins said he was shocked to hear his friend had died, not realising the fact until police revealed it when charging him.
He had been staying with Mr Oh at his home in Gungahlin after his mother told him not to come home after an argument about his gambling.
The trial took nearly a month and heard from a raft of expert witnesses in forensic science, blood spatter and psychiatry.
The jury took about seven hours to reach its verdict of guilty of manslaughter.
When delivering their verdict the jury forewoman initially said her peers had found Higgins guilty of murder, before quickly correcting herself.
"No, sorry", the forewoman said, before confirming the unanimous verdict was guilty of manslaughter.
Higgins will be sentenced later this year.
