Liddy hears guilty verdict

PATRICK Michael Liddy has been found guilty of stabbing a man to death at a drinking session in Charters Towers.

Allan Raymond Ward, 32, died in the early hours of November 19, 2015, with kitchen knife stab wounds to his back, side and chest.

Liddy, 29, pleaded not guilty to murder and faced a weeklong trial in Townsville Supreme Court. Yesterday a jury acquitted him on murder, but convicted him of the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Jurors deliberated for almost seven hours before reaching the verdict at 10.45am.

On the Crown’s case, after a night of drinking Liddy decided to take his phone, which was playing music for the group, and go to bed. A fight allegedly broke out when Liddy punched Mr Ward.

Crown prosecutor Nathan Crane said Liddy “wanted ret- ribution” after he was cut on the forehead, and he walked from the carport to the kitchen to retrieve the knife.

“It is a frenzied stabbing by an aggressive and rage- filled man,” he said.

The third and fatal stab hit Mr Ward’s aorta, causing him to bleed to death in minutes, and penetrated his spine, causing the knife handle to snap.

Defence barrister Franklin Richards argued Liddy had been losing a fight to Mr Ward and may have acted in self- defence or by accident.

He said rather than taking the knife from the kitchen, Liddy had grabbed the knife from the ground when he was being pinned down by Mr Ward.

“He can’t see it in his hand initially, he doesn’t quite know how he’s holding it, doesn’t quite know where he’s striking Ward,” he said.

“His intention, if he had any, was to stop what was happening to him.”

The maximum penalty for manslaughter is life imprisonment, and the sentence hearing is scheduled for Thursday.