Police at the scene of the stabbing on the morning of Christmas Day, 2019. Photo / Belinda Feek
Police at the scene of the stabbing on the morning of Christmas Day, 2019. Photo / Belinda Feek
A man who "took a knife to a fist fight", plunging it into the chest of one victim, has been jailed.
Patwade Murphy, of Whanganui, was in Hamilton during Christmas 2019 and was travelling in a vehicle with friends along Ulster St when he became upset at a group who were gesturing and yelling Mongrel Mob phrases at him.
Murphy, who is a member of the Black Power gang, and his friends pulled over and confronted the men outside the Aaron Court Motel.
In the fracas, he cut the wrist of one man before stabbing another man, leaving him with a 6cm deep wound and needing open heart surgery.
Crown prosecutor Kaleb Whyte said the main victim hadn't engaged with police, but they had one impact statement from the second man who labelled the experience as "frightening".
"This is the sentencing of a man who brought a knife to a fist fight who confronted a group of men who were having fun on Christmas Eve some time ago.
"A man who initiated a fight with them and ended that fight by slicing one of the men's wrists ... and then driving that same knife into the chest of the second victim."
While the 29-year-old did fight the charges and took the case to trial earlier this year, it had to be aborted after it was revealed in deliberations that a juror did a Google search of the accused.
Whyte said resolution was later reached with the defendant, who pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of wounding with intent to injure, instead of causing grievous bodily harm.
Patwade Murphy and his friends were driving past when they took offence to being yelled at by a group of drunk people outside a Hamilton motel early on the morning of Christmas Day in 2019. Photo / Belinda Feek
The charges have maximum sentences of seven and 14 years respectively.
He argued the stabbing was pre-meditated as he had the knife with him, used it and then seriously injured the main victim.
Whyte pushed for an overall starting point of five years' prison before discounts, given Murphy's offending history and the fact he was on bail for a serious assault that occurred a month earlier.
Despite the case going to trial, he should still be entitled to a 15 per cent discount for his guilty plea as the trial was aborted due to no fault of his own, he said.
Defence counsel Melissa James acknowledged that prison was the only option for Murphy, who was currently serving a prison term of three years and five months for the November 2019 attack in Whanganui.
She said her client had been looking for a resolution of the case well before the trial started and that should be acknowledged with a full 25 per cent discount for his guilty plea.
However, Judge Kim Saunders said "no matter which way you try and spin it", the victims still had to give evidence and she wasn't persuaded that was appropriate.
James then mentioned that Murphy's mother died after the aborted trial and that he wasn't able to attend as he was transferred from Rimutaka to Auckland prison.
In coming to her end sentence, Judge Saunders noted his "significant violence" history, with convictions in 2011, 2012 and 2016.
On his two charges - assault with a weapon being the other charge - she jailed him for two years and eight months, to be served on top of his current sentence.
