A Sydney man who fatally stabbed a friend after they took a cocktail of drugs has been found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.
Henry Walcott, 30, had pleaded not guilty - on the grounds of self-defence - to murdering Cameron Bradley, 34, in November 2016 at an Airbnb in Leura where they were staying for a few days.
Defence barrister Brendan Green had told the jury there was no dispute that in the lead-up to the death both men ingested illicit drugs - and Mr Bradley subsequently died from a single stab wound inflicted by his client.
But Walcott insisted he didn't intend to kill Mr Bradley but was simply trying to subdue him during a struggle.
After the verdicts were delivered on Monday (February 25) in the NSW Supreme Court, Justice Allan Hulme refused Walcott bail and scheduled a sentence hearing for late April.
Last week Walcott told the jury he became very concerned at the weird things his companion was saying.
"He mentioned how Hitler had created methamphetamine so he could keep his soldiers awake, that was why they could kill people," Henry Walcott testified last week. "He said to me a couple of times that he was going to be a martyr for the truth."
The 30-year old told his barrister, that Mr Bradley was using ice daily and that although he himself had been abstaining from drugs he decided to take some during their stay.
They arrived on a Tuesday evening and smoked ice, snorted cocaine, had some MDMA and talked about various things and listened to music.
They arrived on a Tuesday evening and smoked ice, snorted cocaine, had some MDMA
Walcott, who said he didn't get any sleep, testified that on the Wednesday they took more drugs, including GHB.
In the early hours of Thursday morning - the day Mr Bradley was stabbed - Walcott said there was a change in his friend who started saying weird and bizarre things.
"We were having discussions about strategies Cameron could use to stop using drugs and move forward in his life and I guess there was an element of kind of desperation," he said.
Mr Bradley's expression became aggressive and they were having a circular conversation when Walcott would ask his friend what he had just said, and his friend would deny having said anything.
"I was worried he was having some type of psychotic episode," Walcott said.
Mr Bradley put a large knife on the bench at one stage, saying something about being cornered.
He said he became terrified and thought his friend was going to attack him, so took the knife from the bench and walked towards the door, but Mr Bradley stepped towards him.
They ended up having a physical struggle on the floor during which Walcott tried to stab him a number of time until he inflicted the fatal blow.
Under cross-examination from prosecutor Guy Newton, Walcott denied intending to kill Mr Bradley, saying he was trying to subdue him.
He agreed that he did not tell the jury a number of things he told police in a hand-written statement including that his friend made it clear "only one party was leaving the house alive" and that he was more keen for Walcott to kill him than vice-versa. But he said he was a bit overwhelmed giving evidence in court and denied exaggerating to police or making up that he had felt under threat from his friend.
Sentencing submissions will start on April 29.
