Paramedics "essentially performed open heart surgery" to try saving the life of 29-year-old Luke Lembryk as he lay dying on the floor of his mother's bedroom, a court has been told.
Mr Lembryk was stabbed multiple times during a 2019 home invasion in western Sydney and left to die in the arms of his mother, Robyn Bradley, who was severely ill with cancer at the time.
Joseph Nehme has admitted breaking into Mr Lembryk's Condell Park home and assaulting Ms Bradley, with the woman later telling police two assailants punched her repeatedly in the chest and threw her across the room.
Nehme is facing trial on one count of murder and another of assault with intent to rob, after pleading not guilty to those charges.
A NSW Supreme Court jury heard on Monday that Ms Bradley found her son hunched over and covered in blood, telling her, “I’m going to die Mum, I’m going to die," before collapsing on the floor.
Defence barrister David Dalton SC told the court Nehme was addicted to drugs at the time and is ashamed of his involvement.
However, he argued another man involved in the break-in, Viliami Taufahema, inflicted the fatal wound on Mr Lembryk when he produced a knife to fight back.
Mr Dalton also said the defence will assert neither of the men took a weapon into the home.
"They have broken into this man’s premises to steal money and/or drugs and he has been tragically killed in the process," Mr Dalton told the jury.
Lisa Price, who had gone on a Tinder date with Mr Lembryk several months earlier, allegedly told Nehme about stacks of cash worth between $10,000 and $20,000 the 29-year-old had in his possession.
Mr Lembryk had subsequently stopped talking to Ms Price and ultimately blocked her from communicating with him.
Intercepted phone calls between Nehme and Price recorded the moment he broke the news to her that they had got "nothing" from the break-in.
"Wasn’t as straightforward as you said, huh," Nehme told Price, according to prosecutors.
“Bro the guy’s a f***ing full footy-player c***. He was strapped as well.
“We thinned him. We got him.”
Images of the crime scene viewed by the jury showed a loose pile of $50 and $100 notes on a dresser in Mr Lembryk's bedroom.
Prosecutor Katrina Ratcliffe noted the Crown did not claim the men went to the home with the intention of killing Mr Lembryk and they only did so when he refused to hand over the money.
"The Crown can not definitively prove which person inflicted the fatal wound," she said.
But Ms Ratcliffe added that to prove the murder charge prosecutors would rely on the agreement between the men to carry out the robbery, which would hold all of those involved criminally responsible for the death.
"All of the participants are equally guilty of carrying out the crime, regardless of the part they play in its commission," she said.
The home invasion allegedly involved Nehme and Taufahema, as well as another man, Bilal Rahim, who prosecutors say waited outside the home.
Prosecutors allege Nehme recruited Taufahema to take part in the robbery to help deal with any resistance they encountered.
"My mate, he’s a machine," Nehme said to Rahim.
"You don't f*** with him."
The trial continues.
