A jury has retired to make a decision on whether Darryle Tailford 28, is guilty of murdering his common-law brother-in-law Richard "Ricky" Eggins on March 2, 2019.
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Tailford pleaded guilty to manslaughter but not guilty of murder before the Supreme Court trial started at Orange Courthouse on March 2.
However, the prosecution decided to continue to pursue a murder conviction.
The Crown prosecutor Liam Shaw and defence barrister Eric Wilson wrapped up their arguments on Wednesday.
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They had presented multiple witnesses who were at Tailford's Romano Drive home at the time of the incident, as well as several people Tailford spoke to, including police, after he stabbed 20-year-old Eggins' once in the chest with a two-prong carving fork that punctured his aorta.
Tailford had taken the fork from a knife block in the kitchen after the victim's brother punched him in the face through an open car window.
The incident took place inside Tailford's garage close to 3am where only the two men were present, although three other people they had been drinking with earlier in the night were outside the garage.
Tailford drove away from the scene at 3.02am immediately after the incident and was notified hours later that his brother-in-law had died.
Experts including the pathologist who conducted Eggins' autopsy, paramedics and alcohol experts also gave evidence during the trial.
Supreme Court judge Justice Stephen Rothman said it was an unusual case given that Tailford had pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
"By murder trial standards this is a relatively short and confined case," Justice Rothman said.
He said it was tragic case but the jury must put emotion and sympathy aside and only consider the objective facts, and the decision to find him guilty or not guilty of murder must be unanimous.
"Here you have one stab wound which unfortunately went between the ribs, and which more unfortunately hit the aorta," Justice Rothman said.
"You were told by the pathologist that it doesn't require great force once it gets past the skin,"
He said to find him guilty of murder, the jury must find that at the time of the stabbing that without any reasonable doubt, Tailford intended to cause grievous bodily harm or serious injury.
"The major issue in the case is the state of inebriation,"Justice Rothman said.
"You should look at all the evidence including all the evidence of intoxication.
"Intention is not to be confused with a deliberate act on the one hand and is not to be [confused] with regret of the result."
Justice Rothman said the jury would not be asked for the reason behind its decision but they must look at the evidence objectively.
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