A man accused of stabbing to death another man on the Central Coast harboured sexual jealousy about the alleged victim’s relationship with a woman, a Newcastle court has been told.

Scott David Weaver, 40, is on trial in the NSW Supreme Court accused of murdering 67-year-old Larry White, whose body was found at a North Gosford unit in December 2019.

On Tuesday, the trial’s opening day was told that the killing, which occurred in the milieu of drug users and dealers, was done in self-defence in an altercation where Weaver “jabbed out” at Mr White.

Mr White was wounded to the chest and leg with the “vicious looking knife”, before falling to the ground next to a three-seater couch. 

Weaver accepted that he killed Mr White, the court was told, but believed what he did was “necessary to defend himself”.

“He didn’t intend to kill Larry White,” Mr Weaver’s counsel told the court, sitting in Newcastle, in his opening address.

A key issue, according to the defence barrister, would be the evidence of Yolanda Howlett who he said had “turned against” Weaver in a bid to shift blame and protect herself.

The court was told that Howlett, three days after being arrested in January 2020, initially gave police the same “false version” of events as the accused, and that there would be evidence of correspondence from Howlett to Weaver “trying to work out what story they’ll tell police”.

Howlett was later charged with being an accessory after the fact, which had impacted the “truthfulness and reliability” of her evidence, especially related to what happened after Mr White was injured, the court was told.

It was told that Mr White’s body was found with a tourniquet wrapped around the leg and with fractured ribs – consistent with CPR.

This brought into issue whether the accused or Howlett took these steps.

It would also be disputed, the barrister said, that Howlett tried to call an ambulance and that Weaver stopped her.

“(The accused) didn’t want Mr White to die,” the barrister told the court.

In the lead-up to the killing, Weaver was confrontational and angry, and jealous as he believed Mr White was having some sort of “sexual relationship with Ms Howlett”, the court was told.

The trial continues before Justice Stephen Campbell. 

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