Hayden Todkill stabbing case scrapped before ACT Supreme Court trial after self-defence raised

Hayden Ashley Ryan Todkill, 26, was arrested on March 9 and charged with two offences, including attempted murder, after he knifed a man in Kingston.

The incident in question occurred four days earlier, when Mr Todkill and the other man were among 33 passengers who cruised Lake Burley Griffin on the Canberra Party Boat.

The voyage was part of a birthday celebration for the other man and his sister.

It finished early because of disorderly passengers, some of whom went to The Dock on the Kingston Foreshore after disembarking.

At the bar, Mr Todkill exchanged words with a passenger who had allegedly spilled a drink on a woman during the boat ride.

They took their dispute outside, where videos played to the ACT Magistrates Court in April, during a successful bail application, showed a fight erupting.

While police claimed the birthday celebrant broke up this altercation, magistrate James Lawton said footage of the incident seemed to show him joining in a group assault on Mr Todkill.

Hostilities eventually spilled down the street and Mr Lawton said Mr Todkill's shirt was "ripped off" in the vicinity of Eastlake Parade, where the 26-year-old stabbed the other man.

As he granted Mr Todkill bail, Mr Lawton said there was an "obvious" issue of potential self-defence.

The magistrate said the other man's "aggression" was clear in the videos, which he described as showing the birthday celebrant repeatedly approaching and attacking a retreating Mr Todkill.

Mr Todkill, who pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder charge and an alternative of intentionally inflicting grievous bodily harm on the basis of self-defence, was committed for trial in relation to both alleged offences in June.

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Once the case reached the ACT Supreme Court, however, prosecutors decided not to press the attempted murder allegation and filed an indictment that only contained the other charge.

Mr Todkill's trial was ultimately listed to commence next Monday.

However, on Tuesday, prosecutors filed a notice also declining to proceed with the grievous bodily harm charge.

Solicitor Jacob Robertson, who secured Mr Todkill's release from custody in April, welcomed the move.

"This was a sensible decision by the prosecution to decline to proceed further with the charge," Mr Robertson told The Canberra Times.

"The incident and the circumstances leading up to it were captured on video footage, which clearly demonstrated that the actions of Mr Todkill were done in self-defence."

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