Jury in Whangārei murder trial Logan Haddon-Hardy to go out today

The jury in the murder trial of Logan Myro Haddon-Hardy is expected to start deliberating after the judge's summing up this morning. <note>Tue</note> Photo / Imran Ali

Photo/Imran Ali

The jury in the trial of a Northlander accused of twice stabbing a man with a knife that led to his death a short time later is expected to go out today.Logan Myro Haddon-Hardy is on trial in the High Court at Whangārei for the alleged murder of 23-year-old Hamuera Wilson on Otaika Rd in the early hours of October 21, 2018.

After being stabbed twice in the chest, Wilson sought help from a couple staying at the Otaika Accommodation Park where he died despite the efforts of police and St John paramedics.

Haddon-Hardy allegedly stabbed an intoxicated Wilson using a knife which police recovered from a drain pipe.

He's arguing self defence, saying he twice jabbed Wilson with a pocket knife to scare him off and didn't even know he had stabbed him.

But Crown prosecutor Richard Annandale, in his closing address to the jury yesterday, questioned why Haddon-Hardy washed and concealed the knife after the stabbing if he acted in self defence.

He said there were differences in the statements of Haddon-Hardy and his partner and said the latter's version of events should be preferred as it was consistent with the evidence.

Although Wilson carried a fence paling to the house where Haddon-Hardy lived, Annandale said he did not use it or any other weapon when he was stabbed.

In her closing address, defence lawyer Julie-Anne Kincade said the injury to Wilson was in no way deliberate as Haddon-Hardy's action was clearly in self defence.

She said Wilson had been drinking throughout the day to the point he got kicked out from a function on Murdoch Cres after he refused to leave and a toxicology report also found cannabis and methamphetamine in his system.

Kincade urged jurors to look at Wilson's past behaviour that showed repeated and insistent violence while intoxicated.

She said Wilson was not at Haddon-Hardy's house for any other reason than to have a fight.

Justice Rebecca Edwards will sum up the case this morning before the jury goes out.