A man who claimed he acted in self-defence after fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend’s new partner has been found guilty of murder following just one hour of jury deliberations.
Prince Fahnbulleh, 27, was convicted of murdering Yohana Angok, 25, at an apartment in western Sydney in June 2023.
The court heard that Fahnbulleh had gone to the apartment of his former partner, Janika Bevin, to collect personal belongings. However, despite finding a pile of his clothes left outside for him, he ignored them, climbed over a fence, scaled stairs and entered the unit without permission.
Inside, Fahnbulleh discovered Ms Bevin in bed with Mr Angok. Prosecutors told the jury he then attacked the sleeping man, stabbing him in the heart and killing him.
After the attack, Fahnbulleh escaped through an upstairs window and got into a car driven by his friend, Adrian Shillingsworth.
“I saw him covered in blood,” Mr Shillingsworth told the court. “He just told me to drive.”
Mr Shillingsworth said blood was later found on the passenger seat, dashboard and roof lining of his vehicle after he dropped Fahnbulleh at home.
Fahnbulleh pleaded not guilty and stood trial in the NSW Supreme Court, where the proceedings lasted 10 days.
During the trial, Crown prosecutor Mark Hay presented evidence that Fahnbulleh had threatened Mr Angok in the days leading up to the killing. The threats included text messages stating, “I’ll find you sooner or later,” and a photograph of a handgun.
In another message, Fahnbulleh allegedly wrote: “I’m not going to stop till you get shot in your head.”
Defence barrister Scott Fraser SC argued that Mr Angok may have been holding a cheese knife and used it against Fahnbulleh, pointing to a small cut on his client’s hand as evidence.
“If there is the prospect that the deceased himself had a knife at the time he came together with the accused, then that raises, at a bare minimum, the issue of self-defence,” Fraser told the jury.
The prosecution dismissed the argument, describing it as implausible.
“Mr Angok was not lying in bed with a knife ready to go,” Mr Hay said.
The jury ultimately rejected the self-defence claim and found Fahnbulleh guilty of murder. He is expected to be sentenced at a later date.