A witness in a murder trial denied being the one responsible for the 2022 death of Kanye Ford.

Jansen Smith told the court that he saw Eze Hart stab Mr Ford in the chest during a fight at Horseshoe Bay, but Charles Richardson, defence counsel, accused the witness of delivering the fatal blow.

“In the fight that broke out, you went running in with a knife and you thought you were stabbing Eze,” Mr Richardson said.

Jansen Smith denied the suggestion, telling the jury that Mr Ford was the best friend that he had ever had and that he cherished his friendship.

While Mr Richardson suggested that their close friendship was reason enough for him to lie, the witness insisted that he had come to court to tell the truth about what happened to Mr Ford, because he cared about him and his family.

Mr Hart, 22, has denied murdering 16-year-old Mr Ford in an incident in the Horseshoe Bay car park on September 9, 2022.

Last week, the court heard evidence from Elijah Smith stating that he, Jansen Smith and Mr Ford had gone to the beach to attend a party when a fight broke out.

Elijah Smith said that in during the brawl, he ran towards Mr Ford, who was struggling with Mr Hart on the ground, and saw the defendant stab the deceased in his left hip.

He told the court that he was forced to retreat and when he looked back he saw Mr Hart stab Mr Ford in the chest.

On Wednesday, Jansen Smith said that during the fight he pulled out a knife which he brought for protection and was stabbed in his arm during a struggle with someone he referred to as “Dookie”.

He also said he recalled seeing Mr Hart, who wore a white shirt, stab Mr Ford with a knife during their tussle.

However, he accepted that he had not told police in police interviews carried out in the days after the murder that he had seen anyone stab Mr Ford.

As the trial continued yesterday, Jansen Smith told the court that he did not initially mention seeing the fatal blow because he had a “blurry vision” of what had taken place.

“I wasn’t sure if I saw that,” he said. “I guess I didn’t want to blame the wrong person. It was blurry and I wasn’t completely sure.”

He said that he and Elijah Smith had spoken about what they had seen on the night of the murder and his version of events had helped him to fill in the gaps.

Questioned about his own involvement, Jansen Smith said he was not able to run over to Mr Hart and Mr Ford while they were on the ground because he was surrounded by three other people at the time.

“You ran there to do what you were going to do earlier,” Mr Richardson said. “You were going to try to stab Eze. You ran in there to try to stab Eze.”

Jansen Smith denied the suggestion, stating he did recall seeing someone running to the pair on the ground and believed that it was Elijah Smith.

“I didn’t know until Elijah told me he it was him and he ran to kick Eze in the face,” he said. “I couldn’t go over there while Kanye and Eze were fighting.”

Mr Richardson suggested that Jansen Smith was angry and impaired by alcohol at the time the fight took place and, while the witness accepted that he was upset before the fight even started, he denied that he was drunk.

The trial continues.

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