A YOUNG woman who claims she was acting in self-defence when she stabbed to death Jason Adams at Raymond Terrace in February will face a trial in Newcastle Supreme Court.
Lily Ridgeway, 21, of Taree, appeared in Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday via audio visual link from Silverwater Women's Correctional Centre where she was committed for trial on a charge of murder.
Ms Ridgeway will next appear in Sydney Supreme Court in November where she will be arraigned, plead not guilty and get a trial date in Newcastle Supreme Court sometime in 2021. Ms Ridgeway was arrested at a motel at North Haven, on the mid-north coast, on March 2 this year, two days after the body of Mr Adams was found in the middle of the intersection of Watt and Payton streets at Raymond Terrace.
She was charged with murder and has remained behind bars ever since.
This incident is a reactive one... the interaction on the prosecution case is a fast-paced thing.
Solicitor Elana Scoufis said during a bail application for Lily Ridgeway in July.
Neighbours in the tiny cul-de-sac where Mr Adams was found dead described hearing a number of volatile arguments coming from a home in the hours and days before he was fatally stabbed.
Mr Adams is believed to have been at the house in Payton Street early on the morning of February 29 when a dispute started and spilled out onto the street.
Neighbours have described being woken about 5.30am to the sound of screaming.
A member of the public found Mr Adams' body lying on the road about 5.45am and called triple-zero.
He had suffered multiple stab wounds.
Ms Ridgeway has since raised self-defence, with her solicitor, Aboriginal Legal Service Trial Advocate Elana Scoufis, telling Newcastle Local Court during a failed bid for bail in July that the prosecution had made a concession that the possibility of self-defence arose on the evidence.
Ms Ridgeway is listed to make a second application for bail, this time before the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney, on September 21.
