CHRISTOPHER Ward was under the influence of methamphetamine and behaving "erratically" - barking on all fours and making insulting remarks about two women - in the hours before he was stabbed once in the stomach, the wound ultimately claiming his life, a jury has heard.
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Ian Matthew Conway, now 47, does not deny stabbing Mr Ward, 56, in his unit at Broadmeadow on March 7 last year, but he has pleaded not guilty to murder and claims he was acting in self-defence after Mr Ward picked up a knife and walked towards him.
And so whether Mr Ward had calmed down, was no longer behaving "erratically" and was sitting on a couch when he was stabbed or whether he was standing up, armed with a knife and advancing towards Mr Conway will be the crucial issue in Mr Conway's two-week trial in NSW Supreme Court.
During opening addresses on Tuesday the jury heard Mr Conway and Mr Ward were friends and had spent much of the day together on March 7 last year before going back to Mr Conway's unit in Broadmeadow Road and using methamphetamine.
There were two other people at the unit, Mr Conway's wife Katrina Coghlan and the crucial witness in the trial, who Crown prosecutor Liam Shaw said would give evidence that Mr Ward was "clearly affected by methamphetamine", acting erratically and at one stage pulled a kettle apart and barked at the door on all fours.
Mr Shaw said Mr Ward also made insulting remarks about both women at the unit and was repeatedly told to calm down.
Mr Shaw said the prosecution case was that Mr Ward had calmed down and was sitting on the couch when Mr Conway put a knife next to him and challenged him to a fight, saying Mr Ward could use the weapon while Mr Conway would "fight him barefisted".
Mr Ward, Mr Shaw told the jury, said he did not want to fight and Mr Conway said "maybe I should knock you out" to stop him acting so strangely.
Mr Shaw told the jury that Mr Conway then went and got a different knife and approached Mr Ward on the couch and stabbed him once in the torso.
No one seemed to realise the significance of the wound at first and it was not until Mr Ward lifted up his shirt that Mr Conway panicked.
"F---," Mr Conway is alleged to have said. "Well, you shouldn't have disrespected my girl. She is sick."
Mr Conway is then alleged to have said: "I should have slit his throat because he is going to talk."
Mr Conway fled and Mr Ward died from the wound in hospital the next night.
Defence barrister Dennis Stewart told the jury Mr Conway feared for his life as Mr Ward approached him and grabbed another knife that he used to defend himself.
The trial continues.
I should have slit his throat because he is going to talk.
- Ian Conway allegedly said of Chris Ward.