Stab victim defended woman before his death in Melbourne

When a girl she'd met just once before hurled abuse at Natasha Stroumos, her former boyfriend Cameron Smith defended her.

It was one of the last things he did before he died.

His killer was now-21-year-old Jack Ledlin who admits stabbing the tradie in the chest.

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But while he says he's guilty of manslaughter, prosecutors say he's guilty of murder.

Smith and Stroumos had enjoyed dinner in Seaford and were taking some leftovers to her car before watching the sunset at the beach on November 25, 2020.

They had been in a relationship for nearly four years, but remained friends after breaking up in mid-2020.

As they walked past Ledlin and his girlfriend Scarlett Taylor, Taylor called out that Stroumos was a "dog" and a "fat b----".

Smith was obviously annoyed, Stroumos told Ledlin's Supreme Court murder trial on Thursday.

"He said that I wasn't fat and that I was sexy," she said.

She suggested they could drive to the beach to avoid crossing paths with the pair again on the walk back to the beach.

"He said it would be fine, we'd just walk straight past them," she said.

They did cross paths again with Ledlin and Taylor and two other men.

Stroumos said one of the other men punched Smith's head.

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"He gave me his sunglasses and told me to hold onto them … he punched him back and they started fighting," Stroumos said.

During the fight Taylor threw a bottle at Stroumos' feet, she said.

"I spoke to her and asked her what she was doing, why is this even happening?" she said.

When she looked back to Smith she noticed a graze on his knee and blood coming from his chest.

Stroumos saw one of the men kick Smith's head before the group ran off.

Smith was on the ground gasping for air.

He turned cold and his lips were purple. A passer-by tried CPR but Smith died before paramedics arrived.

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During cross-examination by Ledlin's lawyer Michael McGrath, Stroumos rejected that Smith had thrown the first punch.

She said Smith had been angry about the earlier interaction and told her "if there's any problems I'm going to head-butt this bloke".

Ledlin has pleaded not guilty to murder on the basis that he didn't intend to kill or cause really serious injury to Smith.

"Because you cause the death of someone doesn't mean you have a murderous intent," McGrath told jurors.

The trial is continuing.