A man who stabbed his girlfriend’s abusive ex-partner to death has been cleared of murder.
A New South Wales Supreme Court jury returned the verdict on Friday afternoon, apparently believing Nicholas Luke Martin’s argument that he was afraid and defended himself when he killed Shahn Baker on February 3, 2022.
The jury also acquitted Martin of one count of aggravated murder, securing the 30-year-old’s freedom.
Martin admitted stabbing the 42-year-old man outside a social housing complex in Erina on the New South Wales central coast, but his lawyer argued it was because of Baker’s history of violence towards Maxie Wilson.
Shortly before the murder, Martin had begun dating Ms Wilson, who the jury heard had been in an abusive relationship for six years with the deceased.
Mr Baker is said to have arrived at Martin’s home very drunk at around 8.30pm, demanding to know why his ex-partner was staying at another man’s house.
Martin’s attorney, Antony Evers, said he acted in self-defense because he heard stories about Baker’s history of violence from his girlfriend.
The attorney said Baker had assaulted Wilson multiple times, strangled her, forced her to drink bleach, punched her in the stomach while she was pregnant and threatened to kill her on multiple occasions.
Shahn Baker (pictured with ex-girlfriend Maxie Wilson) was stabbed to death
Nicholas Luke Martin was found not guilty of murder
Mr Evers said he became increasingly hostile towards his ex-partner in the month before the stabbing when he realised she would not return to him.
“You’re going to learn a fucking lesson, I swear to God,” Baker said in a voicemail left on Wilson’s phone.
Mr Baker also texted one of Ms Wilson’s friends: “I’m going to destroy you and your f***ing family like you’re doing to me.”
Mr Evers told the jury the threatening messages and alleged history of violence made Martin feel the need to defend himself in the way he did.
“Neither the law nor logic requires that if you’re defending another person, you wait until they’re a bloody mess before you intervene,” he told the jury.
Crown prosecutor Liam Shaw had asked the jury to reject the self-defence argument and find Martin guilty.
“He was the aggressor. He was a willing fighter,” he said.
‘He took the double-edged sword with him to confront Shahn Baker for bravery.’
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