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Pyrmont stabber guilty of manslaughter

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A man who stabbed his friend in the neck near The Star casino has been found guilty of manslaughter.
Camera IconA man who stabbed his friend in the neck near The Star casino has been found guilty of manslaughter. Credit: AAP

A Sydney man who stabbed another in the neck with a smashed whiskey bottle near the city's harbour has been found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.

Graham Anthony Egan, 52, pleaded not guilty to murdering Benjamin Coleman, 40, opposite Pyrmont Bay Park on September 22, 2019.

Egan's trial had been told how a woman coincidentally began filming herself near Egan who smashed the liquor bottle on a concrete pillar before he advanced upon his friend.

The 17-second selfie video, shot near Sydney's Star casino, formed part of the crown case.

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Both men, a male friend and Mr Coleman's female partner had spent hours drinking and collecting donations from passers-by near the local Coles, the jury was told.

The Crown said CCTV showed Mr Coleman moving back towards a wall, throwing punches at Egan before the men fell to the ground.

Egan put the bottle into his friend's neck before remaining for about 10 seconds, and then walking away.

The sound of the bottle cracking and images of the two men moving towards the wall are visible in the passer-by's selfie video, the Crown said.

Egan was arrested nearby, with police body-worn cameras said to capture him saying "I know what I done".

Mr Coleman's blood alcohol reading was about 0.287 shortly after the stabbing, and he died in hospital the next day.

The NSW Supreme Court jury returned its verdicts on Friday and a sentence hearing for Egan has been set down for March 11, 2022, before Justice Richard Button.

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