On March 22, 2024, Bradley Dusan Fletcher, 39, celebrated moving into a property in northwest Sydney with his friend Bradley Evennett by taking cocaine and donning boxing gloves.
However, when Fletcher delivered a barrage of strikes that left his pal face down in a pool of blood, the friendly sparring became deadly.
After entering a not guilty plea to the murder of his friend, who had a genetic condition that results in brittle bones, Fletcher was put on trial in the NSW Supreme Court.
The boxer admitted responsibility for his friend’s death by entering a guilty plea to manslaughter, even though he denied intending to do Evennett substantial harm.
On Tuesday afternoon, a jury found Fletcher not guilty of murder following two days of deliberation.
Crown prosecutor Kate Ratcliffe informed the jury during the trial that Evennett, 32, had been struck twice, kicked in the head, and then punched in the head three times while lying on the ground.
However, the jurors rejected the reasoning and delivered a not guilty verdict, concluding that there was insufficient evidence to support Fletcher’s intent to seriously hurt his companion.
The cage fighter told the court that he was in a frenzy and didn’t realize how serious the situation was, so he didn’t dial 000 when he saw Mr. Evennett was unconscious.
