A man accused of murder gave an account in the Supreme Court of getting stabbed in the stomach during an altercation outside a cricket club.

While Jahmari Beach admitted yesterday that he had brandished a pocket knife, he said he had only done so after he saw Daunte Woods reaching into his jacket as if to produce a weapon.

“I just had it by my side,” he said. “It was open, but I just had it dangling by my side.”

Mr Beach, 33, has denied charges that he murdered Mr Woods, 27, outside of Somerset Cricket Club in Sandys on October 25, 2020, and that he possessed a bladed article in a public place.

The court previously heard that Mr Woods died as a result of a sharp force trauma to his heart and aorta, with the fatal blow travelling through his sternum.

Mr Beach said that on the night of the killing he was driven to Somerset Cricket Club for a party.

Mr Beach said that while security staff searched attendees at the party, he realised after he had entered the club that he still had a pocket knife with him.

He explained that he used the pocket knife while working at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital for tasks such as opening boxes and cutting medical tape.

“It had a corkscrew, a nail file and a small 2in blade,” he said. “It was a universal tool.”

Mr Beach said that while in the club, he noticed Mr Woods, who he knew as “D”, bumping into him and came to the belief that it was being done deliberately.

He said he moved to the back of the club, but Mr Woods approached him and asked him: “What are you doing here? What are you doing up here?”

Mr Beach responded that he used to play at the club, explaining to the court that he had played football at Somerset Cricket Club.

He said a man he knew as “Smurf” intervened in the exchange.

“He came in the middle of me and D,” he said. “It must have been a heated conversation.

“He was basically saying ‘whatever’. I cannot recall what I said, but I was just a little irritated that some one approached me saying something like that.”

Mr Beach added that, shortly after the incident, he exited to the club’s porch with Smurf and a woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, where D approached him again.

“He was a little aggressive,” he said. “I had to back up to the wall.”

He told the court that Mr Woods reached into his jacket and made a motion which scared him because it made him believe he had a weapon.

Mr Beach said that he then pulled out his pocket knife and held it to his side.

He said that Smurf told Mr Woods to relax and walked him outside of the club to the parking lot.

Mr Beach said that he subsequently left the club, and that as he walked towards the car he was cut off by a bike and struck in the head by a helmet.

Asked where his knife was at that point, he said he did not remember what had happened to it.

“It was kind of small so I didn’t really feel anything in my hand at that time,” he said. “I don’t think I was holding it tight as to use it. I was just walking with it.”

After being struck, he said he heard shouting and screaming and he remembered being approached by four or five people as he attempted to retreat.

“I had my hands up blocking my face,” he said. “Both hands. I stumbled back. I remember someone else running at me. I was trying to get up, to get my balance.

“I heard guys shouting and screaming. There was a lot going on.”

Mr Beach said that in the midst of the altercation he saw “something flash”, adding: “I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t stick around to see what it was. I ran.”

He told the court that it was only once he got into the car that he realised he had been injured.

“When I was running I felt like a cold breeze on my stomach area but I didn’t look because it was dark and I was focused on getting away,” he said.

Mr Beach said he told his friend to drive him to the hospital, where he was triaged at 2.18am.

He told the court that he received surgery and remained in hospital for four nights before being released and immediately arrested. The trial continues.

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