Maddison Hickson stabbed father twice 'not out of fear but anger' after being called 'a slut and a dog': prosecution says

Ms Hickson, now 25, does not deny stabbing her father, violent criminal Michael Carroll, 50, at a house at Ronald Street on January 16 last year, but has pleaded not guilty to murder and claims she was acting in self-defence after she says he came towards her with a knife during a volatile argument.

Ms Hickson gave evidence in Newcastle Supreme Court on Wednesday, telling the jury she managed to wrestle the knife away from her father before stabbing him twice. She said she stabbed Mr Carroll to protect herself and did not think she had any other choice.

"I thought he was going to kill me," an emotional Ms Hickson said.

Crown prosecutor Brian Costello delivered his closing address on Thursday, telling the jury the physical interaction between Ms Hickson and Mr Carroll, as described by a witness in the house, did not fit with Ms Hickson's claims that the pair had wrestled over the knife.

Mr Costello said it was open for the jury to reject Ms Hickson's evidence that it was Mr Carroll who had the knife and find the reason she stabbed her father was not out of fear, but anger.

"Things escalated during that argument... tempers continued to flare," Mr Costello said. "Eventually Mr Carroll was angry enough that he did get up and go towards her and get his arms around her and when he did that the prosecution submits you would be able to find that she stabbed him. "Not out of fear, but out of anger at being called a slut and a dog in front of her friends."

But Mr Costello said if the jury accepted Ms Hickson's version about Mr Carroll walking towards her armed with a knife then they would acquit her of murder and manslaughter.

Public Defender Peter Krisenthal said Ms Hickson's evidence about the fatal confrontation was "genuine and honest" and asked what else she could have done when her aggressive father advanced towards her with a knife. He pointed to Mr Carroll's lengthy history of violence and evidence that his anger would go from "zero to a hundred" and "the next thing your life could be in danger". "That is exactly what happened here," he said.

Mr Krisenthal said Mr Carroll was a "perfect storm" - prone to violence, severely intoxicated by methamphetamine and likely suffering from drug induced psychosis - at the time when Ms Hickson insulted him and said Mr Carroll responded the way he always did - with violence.

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