A MAN accused of killing a former Australian boxing champion while his two nieces hid in a back room was acting in self-defence, a Sydney court has heard.
Craig Charles Pitts, 29, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of John Marceta outside his apartment in a Redfern public housing block on August 2, 2011.
During opening statements in the NSW Supreme Court trial on Tuesday, Pitts' defence lawyer Doug Marr told the jury his client had acted in self-defence.
"There is no dispute that Craig Pitts stabbed John Marceta and that the stabbing caused his death," he told the court, adding his client was "acting in self-defence of himself or others".
Marceta, 38, was found dead in the hallway of the Morehead Street block after suffering a single stab wound to his chest.
At the time of the incident, Pitts' two nieces, then 11 and 15, and his sister were visiting his home from Melbourne.
Crown prosecutor Siobhan Herbert said Pitts' sister would testify that her brother had yelled "I have kids in here, go away" before he was dragged into the hallway.
She then saw three men on top of her brother "punching and kicking him".
But, Ms Herbert said Pitts wasn't acting in self-defence and had armed himself with a knife with the intention to kill.
"At this stage he was an aggressor, he had armed himself with a knife and went out into the hallway," she told the court.
"It is the crown's case that John Marceta was killed by the accused, Craig Pitts, and that when he did so he intended to kill him or at the very least seriously harm him."
She told the court the stab wound that killed Mr Marceta would have penetrated at least 13 to 14 centimetres into his chest.
Mr Marr said Pitts sustained minor injuries, including a cut to his hand, in the altercation.
"John Marceta was a former professional boxer," he told the court.
"A big man, a fit man and he'd been to jail for robbery."
Mr Marceta was a professional boxer in the 1990s and won the Australasian light heavyweight title in 1995.
The trial continues before Justice Christine Adamson.
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