Christopher Hatzis trial: Judge rules out self-defence in sentencing
Four men will not be sentenced on the basis they were acting in self defence over the stabbing death of teenager Christopher Hatzis, the South Australian Supreme Court has ruled.
Hatzis suffered 14 stab wounds during a brawl outside an Adelaide nightclub in Light Square in August 2012.
He died despite emergency surgery.
The four, 23-year-old David Zefi, 21-year-old Dario Stakaj, 20-year-old Rrok Jakaj and a 19-year-old who was a youth at the time, were found guilty of his manslaughter.
The court heard Zefi repeatedly stabbed Mr Hatzis with a knife, while Jakaj, Stakaj and the now 19-year-old held him down, and kicked and punched him.
In sentencing submissions, Zefi's lawyer asked Justice Ann Vanstone to sentence on the basis that Hatzis introduced the knife to the fight and not Zefi.
Zefi admitted stabbing Hatzis but said he did not know how many times.
He told the trial he acted in self-defence after the teenager pulled a knife on him, and only found out the next day that Hatzis had died.
The court also heard Zefi had received death threats while he was in custody for 12 months.
Jakaj's lawyer told the court his client thought he was involving himself in a fist fight and he didn't know anyone had a knife while the 19-year-old's lawyer urged the court to suspend his client's sentence given his young age at the time of the offending.
Justice Vanstone said family members did not want their victim impact statements to be read in court
She said she did not see the incident as a self-defence situation and would not sentence the four men on that basis.
The men are on home detention bail until they are sentenced later this month.
Another man who was charged over the fatal stabbing walked free from court earlier this year after a magistrate threw out a manslaughter charge against him.
