A jury has retired to begin determining the fate of Jacob Bell, accused of murdering Eddy Lemalama at Windale on Good Friday 2024.
Mr Lemalama, 40, died after he was stabbed in the back and chest on the front verandah of a home in Kankool Way, the culmination of an ongoing dispute between two groups in the tiny laneway.
He admits he was the man who stabbed Mr Lemalama, but claims he was acting in self-defence and did not intend to kill him or cause him grievous bodily harm.
Crown prosecutor Brendan Queenan has told the jury Bell was motivated by a desire for "retribution" after being humiliated in front of his friends the night before when he went over to the house where Mr Lemalama was staying about 4.20pm on March 29, 2024.
Mr Queenan said Bell had been the aggressor during the confrontations with Mr Lemalama's group and was armed with a knife because he was expecting it to get violent.
He told the jury Bell was not acting in self-defence and even on his own version, the stabbing was a "pre-emptive strike".
"There was simply no self-defence."
During his closing, Public Defender Stuart Bouveng told the jury that Bell went to the house to "sort out" a dispute from the night earlier and was not out for retribution.
He said Bell was told to "f--- off" before Mr Lemalama came out and punched him in the head.
Bell gave evidence last week that, during the ensuing fight, he saw Mr Lemalama looking for something before he noticed a knife on the ground.
Mr Bouveng submitted to the jury that Bell "won the race" for the knife and, confronted with Mr Lemalama and his friend, "lashed out".
"He just didn't think," Mr Bouveng said.
"He just lashed out.
"And if you accept that that's what he was thinking, then you would find him not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter."
After listening to the evidence, including hearing from the other five people at the home when Mr Lemalama was stabbed, sitting through the closing addresses and summing up, the jury retired just after 10am on Tuesday to begin deliberating.
