Nicholas Luke Martin, who stabbed his girlfriend’s abusive ex-partner Shahn Baker to death, learns his fate
A man who stabbed to death his girlfriend’s abusive ex-partner has been acquitted of murder.
A New South Wales Supreme Court jury delivered its verdict on Friday afternoon, apparently believing Nicholas Luke Martin’s argument that he was afraid and defending himself when he killed Shahn Baker on February 3, 2022.
The jury also found Martin not guilty of an earlier manslaughter charge, freeing the 30-year-old.
Martin admitted stabbing the 42-year-old man outside a public housing project in Erina, on the NSW Central Coast, but his lawyer argued it was because of Mr Baker’s history of violence towards Maxie Wilson.
Shortly before the murder, Martin had been in a relationship with Mrs. Wilson. According to the jury, she had been in an abusive relationship with the deceased for six years.
Mr Baker is said to have arrived at Martin’s house at around 8.30pm, heavily intoxicated, and asked why his ex-partner was staying with another man.
Martin’s lawyer, Antony Evers, said he acted in self-defense after hearing stories from his girlfriend about Mr Baker’s violent history.
The lawyer said Mr Baker had attacked Ms Wilson on multiple occasions, choking her, forcing her to drink bleach, punching her in the stomach while she was pregnant and threatening to kill her on multiple occasions.
Shahn Baker (pictured with his ex-girlfriend Maxie Wilson) was stabbed to death
Nicholas Luke Martin was found not guilty of murder
Mr Evers said he became increasingly hostile towards his ex-partner in the month before the stabbing, as he realised she would not come back to him.
“You guys are going to learn a lesson here, I swear to God,” Mr. Baker said in a voicemail message left on Ms. Wilson’s phone.
Mr Baker also texted one of Ms Wilson’s friends: ‘I’ll destroy you and your f***ing family just like you’re destroying me.’
Mr Evers told the jury that Martin felt compelled to defend himself in this way because of the threatening messages and alleged violent history.
“Neither the law nor logic requires that, when you are defending someone, you wait until that person has turned into a bloody mess before you intervene,” he told the jury.
Prosecutor Liam Shaw had asked the jury to reject the self-defence argument and find Martin guilty.
“He was the aggressor. He was a willing fighter,” he said.
“He took the double-edged sword to confront Shahn Baker, out of bravado.”
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
Lifeline 13 11 14