DANIEL Hawkins, who shot dead Kenneth John Denniss at Maryland in 2018 during a dispute over a stolen motorcycle, has been found not guilty of murder, with a jury accepting the crucial aspects of his version about how the shooting occurred.
Hawkins had claimed he was acting in self-defence after Mr Denniss, 38, threatened him and twice swung at him with a knife, stabbing him in the arm.
But the prosecution had said Hawkins, now 31, of Wallsend, was motivated by anger and a desire for "retaliation and retribution" over the stabbing and Mr Denniss's refusal to hand over the motorbike when he returned to the house about half an hour later and shot Mr Denniss with a sawn-off rifle. Ultimately, after deliberating for the best part of nine days, the jury returned to Sydney Supreme Court on Wednesday and found Hawkins not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter.
"Hey Ken, come here for a minute," Hawkins called out to Mr Denniss about 4pm on December 8, 2018.
And when Mr Denniss emerged from the garage, his partner by his side, Hawkins pulled a sawn-off rifle out from behind his back, steadied it atop the fence and fired a single shot, striking Mr Dennis in the chest and knocking him to the ground.
Public Defender Nathan Steel had told the jury Hawkins had "genuinely believed at the time he discharged this firearm that he needed to do that to defend himself" and it appears, through their verdict, that the jury agreed.
