A JURY has heard the details of a 2023 stabbing that caused the amputation of a local man’s leg during a trial this week in Broken Hill District Court.
The altercation happened on June 20, 2023, following a fight between the accused Kyle Henderson and his mother Jenny Henderson, which resulted in Kyle stabbing his brother Dwayne Henderson.
As part of the case the jury was told Kyle, his partner Meagan Bock and her friend Amy Bloomfield had gone back to the Henderson family home following dinner.
At the time Kyle Henderson and his mother were both living in the family home on Wolfram Street, Broken Hill, and Jenny Henderson had wanted Ms Bloomfield to leave the house.
Dwayne Henderson’s ex-partner Bianca Davey, and her sister, were also at the house drinking with Jenny Henderson.
Tensions grew concerning Ms Bloomfield’s presence, with Ms Davey and Ms Bock, both confirming on the witness stand Kyle Henderson became increasingly agitated at his mother and asked her to apologise.
“Kyle just changed, his face changed and he clenched his fists, and he just started to walk towards Jenny,” Ms Davey said.
“The look I had seen, I had never seen on his face before.
“Kyle gritted his teeth and had his hand in her face, and said to Jenny ‘you will apologise to my friend, get the fuck up and go and apologise.”
As the argument ensued, Ms Davey called Dwayne Henderson to attend the house to help deescalate the situation and protect his mother.
That ultimately resulted in an an altercation between Dwayne and Kyle where the latter stabbed his brother in the upper leg so deeply it hit his femur and severed a main artery.
The laceration so bad Dwayne had to be resuscitated.
On the witness stand Dwayne Henderson said he had no memory of the stabbing, and he last recalled arriving at the family home and sitting down with his father, Mark Henderson, on the steps outside the house.
He said he next remembered phoning his girlfriend shortly after being stabbed.
“I told her ‘go to the hospital, I’ve been stabbed, I’m dying’,” Dwayne told the jury..
A jury is being asked to decide whether Kyle Henderson stabbed his brother in self defence, or whether he intended to cause grievous bodily harm.
The Crown prosecutor said that in one version of events Dwayne allegedly threatened to hit Ms Bock in the stomach and she saw the altercation happen, witnessing blood on Kyle Henderson’s hands.
Yet in another retelling she said she did not see the incident at all.
“I’m suggesting to you that you lied to the police about that version of events,” the prosecutor said.
Ms Bock replied, “It’s very foggy in my memory.”
The prosecutor pressed her saying, “Well I am suggesting you do have a memory and that this was a deliberate lie to imply Dwayne as the offender. Can I suggest to you that you’re making these up to help your partner?”
Ms Bock replied, “I did see the altercation happen.”
Under cross examination, Kyle Henderson’s defense council disputed claims Ms Bock was lying or leaving evidence out, saying the difference in versions of events was due to police questioning in 2023.
“The police and the Crown asked you what happened that night?,” the defence said.
Ms Bock replied, “yes.”
Defence council followed up by asking, “You gave them an answer about the stabbing and not about what happened before you got there, but you didn’t deliberately leave them out?”
Ms Bock agreed.
The prosecution then asked Ms Bock why she wouldn’t consider the events leading up to the altercation important to tell the police.
“What, in your understanding, does ‘throughout the night’ mean?” the prosecution asked.
Ms Bock replied, “I understood that it meant what events happened that lead up to the stabbing,”
Ms Henderson also gave evidence, describing the events.
“I told her (Amy) to get out of my house, she knows she’s not allowed to be there but there she was,” Ms Henderson said.
Ms Henderson said Kyle had an everyday tone when he asked her to apologise to Ms Bloomfield, she also said she didn’t see the stabbing.
“I was coming down the hall and heard ‘dad!’ and knew it was bad from the tone of (Dwayne’s) voice,” she said.
In the defense’s cross examination, she described the impact of the event after being asked if she’d had a few drinks that evening, or if the evening was “a bit hazy”.
“The whole thing has done my head in,” Ms Henderson said. “I’ve blocked it out of my head.”
Ms Bloomfield took to the stand on Thursday, June 5, retelling her version of the night and confirming key incidents leading up to the stabbing like Kyle Henderson punching a door in anger.
The trial continues before Judge Robert Sutherland.
