Burglar knifed when victim ‘over-reacted’

Craigavon Crown Court also heard that moments before he was fatally stabbed by David Matchett, Reece Leeman shouted to his killer “give us the weed and no one gets hurt.”

Matchett, 29, was due to be sentenced for manslaughter yesterday but having heard submissions Judge Patrick Lynch QC said he would pass sentence on the self-confessed killer next Friday.

Last November Matchett admitted the unlawful killing of Mr Leeman on 15 March 2019 and opening the facts of the case for the first time yesterday, prosecuting QC Philip Mateer outlined how the 21-year-old victim was stabbed six times when he and Robert McQuade, also 21, forced their way into the defendant’s home.

Mr Mateer described how Mr Leeman and McQuade, knowing Matchett was likely to have cannabis in his Kyle Street home in east Belfast, came up with a “half baked idea” to rob him, so McQuaide knocked on his door.

“Upon answering the door the defendant was grabbed by McQuaide and pinned against the wall,” said the senior barrister.

Within seconds, McQuaide had let go and gone to the kitchen cupboard to steal Matchett’s cannabis but as he did so, he heard “a rattling sound” which he assumed was Matchett taking a knife from the drawer.

McQuaide ran off with Matchett running after him shouting “I’m going to kill you” but he broke off the pursuit and Mr Mateer described how a witness heard running in the street as well as a “loud high pitched squeal.”

The police and paramedics were alerted when Matchett himself called 999 and told the operator there had been a robbery and “I think I have stabbed the boy - I think I’ve killed him.”

The victim, although rushed to hospital, was pronounced dead at 02.39.

Mr Mateer told the court while he had sustained six stab wounds, his death was due to a wound to his chest which penetrated his heart and during a police search operation in the area, a knife consistent with the wounds was found in a wheelie bin at the rear of Matchett’s home.

Matchett claimed that as a result of McQuaide throwing eggs at his home and “aggressively” and repeatedly driving past, he was already on edge and had gone to bed fully clothed when he was awoken by the knocking at his door.

He told police that with the intruders “waving” a 12” knife in his face, he was “fighting for my life at that point… there was so much adrenalin” so he had grabbed it.

When detectives asked him directly what he had done to defend himself Matchett claimed: “whenever I had the intention to grab the knife I didn’t really think… I don’t know what I was thinking… I don’t really know where that came from in me to do that - I defended my life.

“It shouldn’t have happened the way it happened but it did.”

Mr Mateer told the court that by pleading, Matchett “accepts that the knife used to inflict the fatal wound on the deceased had been obtained by him from his kitchen knife block.”

He also told Judge Lynch it was also an agreed fact that Matchett “over-reacted and used excessive force in self-defence and defence of his property, arming himself with a knife and causing the fatal injuries.”

Freeing Matchett on continuing bail, Judge Lynch said he wanted to reflect on guideline authorities and the various reports in the case.