A jury is deciding between finding David Sisman guilty of murder or whether Lee Crewe was stabbed in self defence

Mr Crewe, 36, died from a stab wound to the chest on Chepstow Road, Newport, on the evening of Tuesday, May 14, 2024.

The trial at Newport Crown Court started on Monday and the jury will retire to consider its verdict today (Friday, November 1).

In their closing statements neither the prosecution, Mark Cotter KC, nor the defence, Tom Crowther KC, denied that Sisman stabbed Mr Crewe.

However, Mr Cotter argued that Sisman intended to kill Mr Crewe whereas Mr Crowther argued that he was acting "instinctively" in self defence. 

Earlier today it was reported that Mr Crewe had cocaine and alcohol in his blood when he died.

The court also heard that he had been acting aggressively on the day of his death.

In mobile phone voice recordings sent to a friend on the day of his death, Mr Crewe said: "There's no one hard enough in Newport to f*** with me."

However, Mr Cotter told the court to consider the messages as messages and to take into account that he was in a "hyper emotional state" when he sent the voice recordings due to the drugs in his system and that “he did nothing that was possibly threatening.”

“Mr Crewe may have been verbally aggressive but he did not raise a hand to him [Sisman]," said Mr Cotter.

Mr Cotter, said on the other hand, that Sisman was the aggressor, saying: "You do not go out with a weapon like that without bearing in mind that you may need to use it."

Mr Crowther, defending Sisman, admitted that Sisman was illegally carrying a knife.

CCTV footage, played at the court showed the altercation between the pair. 

Mr Crowther argued that Mr Crewe had a "titanic addiction problem" and aggressively pursued Sisman in order to steal drugs off him. He described Mr Crewe's attitude on the CCTV footage as being "primal, alpha-male, silverback gorilla stuff".

Whereas, Mr Cotter argued that Mr Crewe had not acted in aggressive way towards Sisman, which would have prompted the younger man to stab him. He said Mr Crewe retreated quickly when he saw Sisman's weapon.

What they did agree on, described by Mr Crowther, was "the objective evidence" such as the stabbing, the voice recordings and drugs in Mr Crewe's system. They also agreed that the case was a tragedy and desperate situation in the heart of the community.