Man who stabbed woman as she protected sister-in-law convinces court he’s on path to recovery

Anthony Archbold has been sentenced to home detention after his "cowardly" attack on a woman he stabbed in the back as she was protecting her sister-in-law. Photo / 123rf

Trouble arrived uninvited when Anthony Archbold turned up at a house where a group of people had arrived home from a night on the town.

The melee on the night of June 4 last year ended with a 19-year-old woman rushed to hospital with only minutes to spare after the knife Archbold had plunged into her back punctured her lung.

The victim, her partner and her sister-in-law had returned to the home of some friends after they’d all been out at a local bar.

“It was a cowardly stab to the back, and she never saw it coming,” Judge Tony Zohrab told the Nelson District Court on Friday.

“It seems that she expected for a moment that she might have ended up dead.”

Archbold was sentenced to nine months’ home detention after earlier admitting charges of wounding with reckless disregard, two charges of burglary and another of carrying a knife in a public place.

The victim had at the time been protecting her sister-in-law, who knew Archbold, from his aggressive stance when he turned up at their Nelson address unannounced and unexpectedly.

The night ended with Archbold arrested after he burgled two properties in the Nelson suburb of Stoke and was found by police carrying a large machete.

The 25-year-old, who’s been a meth user since the age of 14 - which “really kicked in” in his late teens - managed to convince the court he had made huge gains in turning his life around, including what he’d learned during time in custody while waiting to be sentenced when he worked full time in the kitchen.

Anthony Archbold has been described in court as a "model prisoner" for the work he did in the prison kitchen while in custody awaiting sentence. Photo / 123rf

Defence lawyer Mark Dollimore said Archbold had also been a role model and mentor while on a residential rehabilitation programme.

He said Archbold’s meth use had been a big contributor to his downward spiral, but that he had “fought his way into the queue” to get help in rehab and had worked in the prison kitchen for seven hours a day while there.

“He was a model prisoner,” Dollimore said.

“He’s a completely different individual to the young man who went into Christchurch Men’s Prison.”

Crown lawyer Sophie Day said there were three aggravating features to Archbold’s offending that night, including his use of a weapon which had caused the victim serious injury, plus her vulnerability and the fact she had been living at the address when the offence occurred.

She said another aggravating feature was that in the burglaries which followed, the occupants of the properties had been confronted by Archbold.

On that night he arrived at the home where his ex-partner lived, carrying a bottle of Malibu spirits and showing clear signs he’d already been drinking. An argument began between him and his former partner.

Tensions flared further until the woman was stabbed while defending her sister-in-law.

She initially thought she had been punched, then suddenly realised what had happened and screamed, before she was rushed to hospital, where she collapsed on arrival.

The single stab wound to her back had punctured her lung and she was taken into emergency surgery.

For some time afterwards the victim said it still hurt to breathe, and she has been left with a scar as a daily reminder of what happened.

“She spoke of trying to hold in the blood before she blacked out in hospital,” Judge Zohrab said.

“The doctor told her she had got to hospital with only minutes to spare.”

Archbold had by then left the address and later that night, while in “quite a state”, he burgled the two properties.

At the first, he rummaged through the bedrooms and took a small bag of prescription medicine but was disturbed by the occupant and left.

At the second, he took a wallet from a sleepout but fled when confronted by the occupants, dropping the stolen items in the process.

He was soon found by police and arrested.

Judge Zohrab said in sentencing Archbold that notwithstanding the serious nature of the offending, the Crown supported home detention.

“That may seem lenient considering the facts, but you have taken significant steps to address issues,” Judge Zohrab said.

Taking into account the almost 10 months Archbold had already spent in custody, the gains made in drug rehab and the fact he now had a full-time job, Judge Zohrab arrived at the sentence of home detention, with standard and special conditions including that he does not consume alcohol or drugs, and that he attend counselling and treatment programmes as directed.

Judge Zohrab said prison would likely set Archbold back from the gains made, and it was better that he was able to continue working.

He also ordered emotional harm reparation of $750 to the woman Archbold stabbed.

Archbold left the dock with a warning from Judge Zohrab, who said it would be a shame to see him back before the court again but if the judge did, he’d be going to prison.