A murder witness described the chaotic scene in which a 16-year-old was fatally stabbed at a party near Horseshoe Bay.

Adia Gibbons told the Supreme Court that she saw Eze Hart strike Kanye Ford on the head with a bottle after Mr Ford had shoved her in a dispute over a stolen bike.

However, she said that in the midst of the fight she saw Jansen Smith, a friend of Mr Ford, run towards the confrontation with a knife and make a “stabbing motion”.

Ms Gibbons said: “A couple seconds later, the fight was broken up. Someone pulled Kanye off Eze. I myself rushed towards Eze. He was standing up and the front of his shirt was completely covered in blood.

“We lifted up his shirt and checked to see if he had gotten stabbed. To see where, actually. We were pretty much convinced he had gotten stabbed.”

She said that it was only when they could not find any injuries on Mr Hart that they realised Mr Ford was the one who was bleeding.

Mr Hart, 22, has denied a charge that he murdered Mr Ford in the September 9, 2022 altercation.

Earlier in the trial, Elijah Smith and Jansen Smith, who both attended the party with Mr Ford, said that they had seen Mr Hart stab Mr Ford in the chest during an altercation.

While Mr Hart admitted that he had struck Mr Ford with a bottle, he denied that had a knife during the altercation or that he ever stabbed the deceased.

As the trial continued yesterday, Ms Gibbons said that she was one of about 30 attendees at a party on Horseshoe Bay where the stabbing took place.

She said the party started at the beach itself, but later moved to the walkway near the restrooms as people began to leave.

Mr Gibbons said she returned to the beach to help pack everything away, but when she returned she became aware that someone was looking for a missing phone and others were looking for a missing bike.

She said: “I don’t know specifically whose bike it was, but Kanye, Elijah and Jansen were questioning about the bike.”

Ms Gibbons said that the trio were “heated and aggravated” and that both Jansen Smith and Mr Ford had knives in their hands when they approached her about the stolen vehicle near the parking area.

However, she later told the court that all three had knives out during the confrontation.

She said she denied knowing anything about the bike and other attendees defused the situation and everyone involved began to walk back towards the bathroom area when Mr Ford confronted her again about the bike.

Ms Gibbons said: “Kanye proceeded to say things to me about the bike. I then turned around and I answered back to him, basically. I cannot recall exactly what I said.

“Him and I were face to face at the time. He then pushed me. Not hard to where I fell down, but I did move back.

“I pushed him back. He then shoved me again. At this time, Eze was approaching. He had seen the push or shove and hit Kanye in the head with a bottle.”

Ms Gibbons said Mr Ford turned and began to fight Mr Hart, with the pair exchanging blows until Mr Hart fell to the ground.

She said that she saw Elijah Smith start to approach the pair with a knife, but she kicked the knife out of his hand, causing the two to race to get the weapon.

Ms Gibbons said Elijah Smith got to the knife first, but he did not do anything once he had it.

She said she looked back at the fight and saw Mr Ford was on top of Mr Hart on the ground.

Ms Gibbons added: “It was chaos. There was a lot of commotion. By this point, other people had gone towards the fight to try to break it up.”

She said she then saw Jansen Smith run towards the pair with a knife and make a “stabbing motion” before the fight was broken up.

Ms Gibbons said she and Mr Hart went towards Mr Ford to see if they could help him, but were told to get away by Elijah Smith and Jansen Smith, who she said still had knives out.

Ms Gibbons said she walked to her grandmother’s house alone after the incident and did not know where Mr Hart or others went.

She told the court that she made a statement to police on September 26, 2022, at which time the defendant was in custody at Westgate.

Under cross-examination by Karim Nelson, for the Crown, Ms Gibbons said that the police interview came after she told Mr Hart’s father what she had seen and he urged her to speak with Charles Richardson, Mr Hart’s lawyer.

She said she contacted the police soon after, but she then waited more than a week to be contacted about when to come in to give her statement.

Ms Gibbons denied a suggestion that she had tried to tailor her story to paint Mr Ford and his friends as the “bad guys” and support a lifelong friend.

“I’m just telling it as it happened,” she said.

However, she accepted that in her police interview she told officers she did not believe that Mr Hart was the murderer rather than that she knew he was not the murderer.

While she accepted that the two expressions carried different weight, she told the court that she knew Mr Hart was not guilty.

“I know that Eze Hart did not have a knife and did not stab Kanye,” she said.

The trial continues.

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