THE partner of a man who was stabbed to death at Belmont South has described seeing "knives coming through the window" and said the man was "trapped in his seatbelt" as he was being repeatedly stabbed, the culmination of a long-running and bitter feud that included multiple acts of arson and death threats.
"I saw a knife come in and go straight into his chest or stomach," Kristy Duley said of her partner, 50-year-old Guy Hamilton McCulloch, who was killed in Beach Street on December 19, 2018. "It went straight into him, couldn't have missed. "I saw two [stabbing motions] then I got out of the car. "[Guy] was screaming. He was trapped in his seatbelt. "He was dying in the front seat of the car, screaming."
Justin Fuller, now 34, faced the first day of a trial in Newcastle Supreme Court on Monday, pleading not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter over the death of Mr McCulloch.
The proceedings are a re-trial, Mr Fuller's first trial having been aborted on Thursday after the jury had heard six days of addresses and evidence.
Mr Fuller does not deny stabbing Mr McCulloch to death, but the issue for the jury to determine is his intention and state of mind at the time of the stabbing.
Was Mr Fuller intending to kill Mr McCulloch or cause him really serious injury when he approached Mr McCulloch's car and pulled two knives from his bag.
Or was he "lashing out mindlessly", acting as a result of being provoked after Mr McCulloch had twice reversed his Nissan 4WD into Mr Fuller's car.
Ms Duley told the jury that on the day of Mr McCulloch's death the pair had been parked in Beach Street when Mr Fuller and his then partner, Narelle Abercrombie, drove past.
"I yelled out a comment to her," Ms Duley said. "I think I said "tick tock, tick tock"."
Ms Abercrombie gave her the finger and kept driving and Ms Duley forgot about it.
But Mr Fuller appeared on foot, argued with Ms Duley and allegedly punched her in the head, prompting Mr McCulloch to twice reverse his car into Mr Fuller's.
Mr McCulloch and Ms Duley left Beach Street, but returned less than 10 minutes later when Mr Fuller again appeared and stabbed Mr McCulloch to death.
