On February 6,2022,the 23-year-old attended a family barbecue at Kwinana Beach and became drunk and verbally aggressive. His friend called an Uber to take him back to his Warnbro home.
Duke Edis (left) has admitted to killing his housemate James Reynolds (right) in 2022.Supplied
Hours later one of his housemates shot Reynolds in what the housemate’s lawyer described as “excessive” self-defence.
Duke Edis,then aged 20,fired a single,ultimately fatal bullet from an unlicensed rifle into Reynolds’ thigh as Reynolds stood outside his bedroom with a knife,threatening to kill him and his puppy.
The violent climax followed Edis trying several times to defuse Reynolds’ aggression by retreating to his room and asking another housemate to remove him. However,Reynolds kicked the locked door open and brandished a knife at Edis.
During his manslaughter sentencing in the Supreme Court of Western Australia on Tuesday,Edis’ lawyer Simon Freitag SC claimed his client threatened Reynolds with a machete,and then a “small game” rifle,in an attempt to get him to leave his room.
Instead,Reynolds continued shouting at Edis to “stab me,c--t”,“shoot me,c--t”.
Edis fired the rifle into Reynolds’ leg,and ran from the house with the weapon wrapped in bedsheets. Upon hearing the shot being fired other people in the house,including Lyn Keddie,50,also fled,later hiding the rifle under the bed at another person’s house.
Keddie returned to the Warnbro home a short time later and threw the machete and magazine case on the roof before messaging Reynolds’ girlfriend and telling her to go and check on him and take him to hospital.
When the girlfriend arrived,she followed a trail of blood and found Reynolds slumped in the laundry asking for water. He lost consciousness shortly afterwards and died in hospital the next day from blood loss.
Edis handed himself in to police that same day.
During his police interview,he admitted shooting Reynolds in an act of self-defence and told detectives Keddie had informed him that when she returned to the house shortly after the incident,she had tended to Reynolds and stopped his bleeding.
Lawyer Freitag said Edis could have responded in a less excessive way,but claimed his client’s autism spectrum disorder impacted his ability to effectively navigate the threatening situation.
“We accept that ultimately there may have been other options open to him other than a single shot to the leg,” he said.
“He could have retreated to his bedroom,tried to barricade the door in some way,but we already know that the deceased had been in the room and threatened Mr Edis and his puppy.
“The deceased was in a situation where he may have been dismayed by a warning shot;we’ll never know,as[Edis] didn’t fire one.”
Freitag said while it was an aggravating factor against Edis to leave the house without seeking medical assistance for Reynolds,his youth,lack of any prior violent offending,and belief that he was in danger when he fired the rifle,should make him eligible for a lighter sentence than typically given to those who plead guilty to manslaughter.
In a rare request,Freitag asked Justice Anthony Derrick consider sentencing Edis to a four-year prison term meaning with time served,he could be released on parole immediately.
After considering the matter over two days,on Thursday,Derrick sentenced Edis to four years and six months jail,and made him eligible for parole after two-and-a-half years,meaning he could be released in July.
Keddie,who was sentenced for being an accessory after the fact,was given an 18-month suspended prison term and placed on a supervision order.
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