A Geelong man who repeatedly stabbed a 26-year-old amid a romantic dispute and left him for dead with a 14 centimetre-deep chest wound says he acted in self-defence.
Ashley Roy Feetham is facing a Supreme Court trial accused of murdering Dylan Bond and seriously injuring his younger brother Heath Bond.
Feetham was in a relationship with Heath’s ex-fiancee Abbey Sexton after the couple broke up because of his and Ms Sexton’s affair.
About a fortnight after the break-up on Saturday April 24, 2021, Ms Sexton and Feetham were out with friends in Geelong’s CBD when Heath – who was at a different nightclub with his own mates – caught wind his ex was nearby.
The pair met up in the early hours of Sunday and had an emotional discussion about their broken relationship, before Feetham – agitated his girlfriend was speaking to her ex – interrupted and the men fought, prosecutor Mark Gibson KC told a jury on Thursday.
The former couple organised to meet again on April 26 and Ms Sexton ended up speaking to Heath’s older brother Dylan about the CBD fight.
She relayed the conversation back to Feetham who went on to message Dylan on Facebook, the prosecutor said.
The messages between the men gradually got more heated, with Dylan saying, “let’s sort it”, and Feetham telling him to come to Ms Sexton’s house, Mr Gibson said.
Feetham then messaged his sister, saying: “Heath and his brother are coming to Abbey’s to get me. Can you bring me a hammer or something?”
Feetham’s sister and mother later pulled up outside the house in separate cars – his mother, with a rake in the front seat – and talked between themselves while Feetham sat on the front porch on the phone, Mr Gibson said.
When the Bond brothers arrived that afternoon, they sat in their car for about five minutes before coming out and telling Feetham’s sister they weren’t going to touch Feetham, the prosecutor said.
Heath walked around to the side of the house and yelled “Ash” before opening a sliding door when Feetham ran towards him and stabbed him with a large kitchen knife, the prosecutor said.
Dylan then got into a scuffle with and tried to restrain Feetham, who ultimately stabbed him multiple times, including fatally in the chest, Mr Gibson alleged.
Feetham’s sister hit the Bond brothers with the metal rake before she left with her children in the car, while Feetham got into his mother’s car and she drove him to hospital to treat cuts to his hand, the prosecutor said.
Dylan died at the scene while Heath required surgery and spent several days in intensive care.
Defence barrister Hayden Rattray said Feetham was at every stage acting in self-defence.
Feetham, who was 22 at the time, told police it was Dylan who took the knife from the bench after the two brothers were on top of him and punching him.
He said he quickly grabbed the knife from Dylan – injuring his hand – and swung it at him.
He also told officers he didn’t know Dylan was Heath’s brother, the prosecutor said.
Mr Rattray questioned the brothers’ motivation for coming to the house and why they wouldn’t tell Feetham they meant him no harm.
Feetham locked himself inside the home before the brothers’ forced entry, the barrister said.
The trial before Judge Stephen Kaye continues.
