A Canberra man accused of stabbing his drinking buddy to death after injecting ice and not sleeping for two days will argue he is not guilty of murder.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
A jury on Wednesday heard Joshua Higgins woke to an apparent sexual advance by his friend Jae-Ho Oh when he stabbed him early in the morning on March 11, 2019.
Mr Higgins is facing a three-week trial in the ACT Supreme Court, where the jury was warned it would see gruesome images of the bloody crime scene.
In his opening address, Crown prosecutor Trent Hickey said the 32-year-old injected ice, drove to Fitzroy Falls in NSW and lost $300 gambling before asking his friend Mr Oh if he could stay over.
Mr Higgins and 56-year-old Mr Oh spent the day drinking at Mr Oh's Gungahlin townhouse, leaving once to take the bus to buy more alcohol.
Early the next morning, data from Mr Oh's phone showed he was watching YouTube videos.
Mr Hickey told the jury the last was a video in Korean about how to stop smoking that was never finished because moments later Mr Higgins stabbed him to death.
Mr Hickey said Mr Oh was stabbed in the back, head, and back of the neck 14 times.
While Mr Oh was on the ground, Mr Higgins smashed his head with a one metre long speaker at least four times, the prosecutor told the jury.
When police later walked into the bloody crime scene Mr Oh's body was under a television.
Mr Higgins was seen running down the street, his white t-shirt covered in blood, and holding a small yellow knife while shouting "help".
"My friend came at me with a knife and I took it off him," it's alleged he told one neighbour.
"I stabbed him ... I stabbed him heaps, I stabbed him all over."
- Murder-accused Joshua Higgins
He was soon arrested, telling police: "I stabbed him ... I stabbed him heaps, I stabbed him all over."
He told police he had got really drunk and that Mr Oh was egging him on to drink.
And "it was so blurry" but he had woken to Mr Oh on top of him.
He was shocked and startled and it was "so hazy".
Defence barrister Kieren Ginges told the jury Mr Higgins had fallen asleep when he woke to Mr Oh coming over to him.
What he said or did led to a confrontation, Mr Ginges said, and Mr Oh went to attack Mr Higgins with a knife.
Mr Ginges said Mr Higgins had anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder after he was the victim of a Civic assault in 2010.
He said the man would argue his responsibility for the crime was diminished because of his post-traumatic stress disorder.
The barrister said it was a matter for the jury whether or not Mr Higgins was in a drug or alcohol induced psychosis.
Mr Higgins will also argue he had acted in self-defence and had been provoked.
Mr Ginges told the jury Mr Higgins had been seen running from the townhouse scared and panicked, looking behind him as if he were being pursued.
He said Mr Higgins was heard saying he had been sexually and physically assaulted.
The trial continues before Justice John Burns.
