A 27-year-old man accused of murdering a young Chinese student in Rialto almost two years ago has said he did not know he had stabbed anyone until he heard a news bulletin on the radio the following morning.
Derek Wade of Church Avenue, Rialto, denies murdering Zhi Song during an attempted robbery at a house on Reuben Avenue in Rialto in June 2005.
He says he bumped into Mr Zhi in the house and did not realise he had stabbed him.
He told the jury he had no intention of stabbing anyone and did not stab anyone deliberately.
Under cross-examination, Derek Wade said he had armed himself with a carving knife and a meat cleaver from the kitchen 'just for show', before going upstairs.
He said he had not been planning to use them.
He said he remembered brushing into' someone at the top of the stairs while he was running out of the house.
He said he did not remember taking the knife out of Mr Zhi despite the fact that it had penetrated his chest and injured his heart and lung.
Mr Wade admitted that he had changed his hair colour after the incident to confuse Mr Zhi's girlfriend Xiao Wen Zhou, whom he had disturbed in her bedroom.
Asked why he said 'she must be mistaken' after she picked him out of a garda identification parade, he said his solicitor had told him to say that.
The jury is expected to retire to begin considering its verdict tomorrow afternoon.
