Rubbing insult into wound

Woman says ‘just stab this **** ’ before alleged attack

A WOMAN told the defendant “just stab the c***” before a man was allegedly assaulted in a Cairns unit and later had to have his spleen removed, a court has heard.

Daniel Garcia Martin is standing trial in Cairns District Court on a single charge of grievous bodily harm on Luke Robert Edwards.

Crown Prosecutor Christian Peters told the court Mr Edwards stayed a few nights a week at a unit in Cairns owned by Edward Brown. The rest of the time he spent at a backpackers in Cairns.

The court heard Mr Edwards had stayed the night at the unit on January 1, 2021, and the following morning he took a shower.

He removed a bracelet he had been given the previous Christmas by his children and put it in his bag. Later in the day he checked the bag for his cigarettes and realised they and the bracelet were gone, the court heard. Mr Peters told the court Mr Edwards returned to the unit the following day.

From the witness stand, Mr Edwards testified that when he returned to the unit he saw Mr Martin wearing his bracelet.

He followed Mr Martin into the unit’s bedroom, he told the court, where a woman, Ellen Fox, was present and an altercation ensued.

“I was trying to speak to Ed (the owner of the unit) about my bracelet and my smokes,” he said.

“I saw it on Daniel’s wrist.” He told the court the woman, Ellen Fox, kept telling him to “shut the f--k up”, and that it became a “three-way conversation” with the defendant asking him for a cigarette.

“I was a bit loud, I was yelling and she went and shut the door and said ‘just stab this c-t’,” he told the court.

“He punched me in the ribs a couple of times, which turned out to be a stab.

“My shirt was covered in it (blood).”

He told the court he left the unit and walked out of the driveway followed by the defendant and Ms Fox.

He testified he called an ambulance as he was leaving the unit, and it arrived within a minute or two.

“They put something in my arm, and I woke up 48 hours later in intensive care.”

Under cross-examination, defence counsel Kelly Goodwin pointed out Mr Edwards did not tell police at the time Daniel Martin was wearing his bracelet.

Mr Edwards agreed that the words “Just stab the c***” were not in his police statement.

“That was the only thing I left out,” he said.

He told the court that in hospital he underwent a splenectomy, and testified he will remain on antibiotics for the rest of his life. The trial is proceeding before Judge Tracy Fantin.