Bitter love triangle killer gets 20 years in prison

Mark Russell |
April 23, 2024

A man who murdered a carpenter over a bitter love triangle in which both men believed they were the father of a baby boy has been jailed for 20 years.

Newcastle High Court Judge Sarah McNaughton said there was a deep, personal animosity between Kevin Smith and Daniel Pettersson which tragically ended in murder.

A jury found in September that Smith, 39, was guilty of murdering Mr Pettersson, 34, after stabbing him once in the chest with a large hunting knife in the suburb of Jesmond on January 6, 2022.

Smith, who was jailed for 20 years with a minimum of 15 years, admitted stabbing Mr Pettersson but claimed it was self-defence.

Judge McNaughton said on Tuesday that Smith had been in an on-and-off relationship with a woman between 2016 and the day of the murder, while Pettersson had seen the woman between August and December 2019.

When Mr Pettersson and the woman separated, he moved to Queensland.

The woman discovered she was pregnant a few months later and told Smith he was the father before she gave birth in July 2020. Smith was present at the birth.

Mr Pettersson returned to Newcastle in May 2021 and moved into the new home he had bought when the woman contacted him to tell him he might be the boy’s father.

He decided to take a paternity test and during this time the woman sometimes stayed with him despite being in a relationship with Smith, also known as Squid.

Smith was arrested in June 2021 for alleged domestic violence against the woman and was given a domestic violence order to stay away from her. He remained in custody until released on bail on December 14.

In August 2021, DNA testing proved Mr Pettersson was the boy’s biological father and Smith discovered while in prison that he had been lied to about paternity.

“Both men were angry (the woman) had cheated on them because they were the father,” Judge McNaughton said.

“They were also angry that she had been intimate with another man when they thought they were in a relationship with her.”

Judge McNaughton said Mr Pettersson went to police in October 2021 to report that the woman, pregnant with his second child, had assaulted him, verbally abused him and threatened the unborn child.

The judge said Smith had made several threats against Mr Pettersson, including threats to kill him, while Mr Pettersson had also threatened Smith and told the woman that “it was happening” if he ever found Smith near her find.

Smith was with the woman at the Jesmond home on January 6, 2022, when an aggressive, upset Mr Pettersson pulled up outside around 3.34pm.

Mr Pettersson had called the woman 17 times and her father seven times because he wanted to see his son before deciding to drive to her house.

There was a confrontation in the kitchen between the two men and Mr Pettersson was stabbed once in the chest.

The woman helped him out and he said to her, “If I die, I will love you.”

Mr Pettersson died at the scene.

Judge McNaughton said Smith, a heavy drug user with a long criminal record who claimed to have been abused by a local priest between the ages of 10 and 13, had shown no remorse but did not intend to kill Mr Pettersson because he felt that the stabbing was not planned. and spontaneous.

MONKEY