‘ I WAS KNIFED FIRST’
THE man on trial over the frenzied stabbing murder of Corinne Henderson claims she stabbed him first.
In an extraordinary day of testimony in the Supreme Court in Townsville yesterday, Dane Andrew Pilcher ( right) admitted he was “partially responsible” for his ex- girlfriend’s death but did not mean to kill her. Pilcher, 38, has pleaded not guilty to murdering the fly- in, fly- out mine worker, who died after being stabbed 21 times late on September 26, 2015.
After breaking into her third- floor Idalia unit to confront her over her new relationship, Pilcher told the court he walked towards Ms Henderson “to put my hands around her hips” when she stabbed him.
THE man accused of the frenzied stabbing murder of Corinne Henderson claims she stabbed him first.
In an extraordinary day of testimony in the Supreme Court in Townsville yesterday, Dane Andrew Pilcher admitted he was “partially responsible” for his ex- girlfriend’s death but said he did not mean to kill her.
Pilcher, 38, has pleaded not guilty to murdering the fly- in, fly- out mine worker, who died after being stabbed 21 times late on September 26, 2015.
He told the court he had been drinking at Cowboys Leagues Club when a former coworker sent him a Facebook photo of Ms Henderson at the races with Dwayne Wickham, whom Pilcher had suspected Ms Henderson was seeing.
He said he was “gutted” and took a taxi to Ms Henderson’s unit at Sanctuary Apartments, Idalia, after 10pm.
Pilcher told the court he climbed around a timber frame covering an airconditioner and kicked through the kitchen window.
He said he was bleeding profusely and went to Ms Henderson’s bedroom to see if Mr Wickham was there. He said he then returned to the living area and saw Ms Henderson holding a kitchen knife.
“I just started saying ‘ Corinne, I’ve seen the photo, I’ve seen the photo. What are you doing?’ I think the question was ‘ Are you f----- him?’” he said. “I said just tell me what’s happening so I can leave.”
Pilcher said he walked towards Ms Henderson to “put my hands around her hips” when she stabbed him.
He said he “screamed at her” and tried to get the knife. “We engaged in a wrestle of sorts. I was trying to grab the knife off her, she had the knife in her hands,” he said.
“Corinne spun, we both fell down to the ground, we hit the tiles, Corinne was face down on the ground, I was on top of her and my chest was against her back.”
Crown prosecutor Michael Cowen QC asked Pilcher why Ms Henderson had been stabbed in her front and back.
“I can only suggest, she had many wounds to her hands, as did I, I can only suggest that they were sustained when we were fighting over the knife,” Pilcher said.
Mr Cowen said: “Can I suggest this to you, you had her by the hair and you were hacking into her face, neck and head with that knife … And when she turned instinctively to seek sanctuary in her bedroom, you stabbed her repeatedly in the back.” Pilcher denied the suggestion. Mr Cowen questioned Pilcher about the fact that he told medical staff that he had killed someone.
“I have never denied, Mr Cowen, of admitting partial responsibility for Corinne’s death. What I deny is I intentionally went there to kill her,” he said.
Pilcher told the court that after he saw the photo of Mr Wickham and Ms Henderson, he text messaged a friend that he would “kill them both”. “It’s a figure of speech, a turn of phrase. In hindsight it was a very poorly chosen figure of speech, it certainly wasn’t meant to be taken literally,” he said.