Man jailed for 20 months over stabbing at golf course

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Rick Goodman - News.com.au




A VICTORIAN man has been jailed for drunkenly stabbing his best mate in the thigh during a game of golf, causing massive blood loss that could have been fatal.

Matthew McKay, 31, and two close friends had been drinking and watching a boxing match on TV before they headed to Broadford Golf Course, north of Melbourne, in August 2017.

The trio played a few holes but McKay appeared intoxicated and was damaging the greens, scratching one with a flag and stomping golf balls into another. His friends Simon Mudd and Shaun Peterson chastised him for his antics, telling him to stop.

McKay stormed off to his car, returned with a fold-out Smith and Wesson knife and attacked his mates.

He first swung the weapon at Mr Peterson before he turned to Mr Mudd and drove the blade into his left thigh, hitting a large artery and blood gushed from the deep wound.

Mr Mudd was airlifted to hospital where he received a major blood transfusion and emergency surgery.

“He had lost almost three litres of blood and was minutes away from death,” County Court Judge Frank Gucciardo said on Monday.

McKay was sentenced to one year and eight months in jail after pleading guilty to recklessly causing serious injury and assault with a weapon.

He had been close friends with Mr Mudd since he was about five years old. “Mr Mudd was your best friend,” Judge Gucciardo said.

“He considered you his brother in effect and he’s bewildered and saddened that he could be so hurt and damaged by someone he’d known all his life.”

The incident changed Mr Mudd’s life and he has not fully recovered mentally or physically, with permanent nerve damage in his leg.

“He is short-tempered and he has lost trust in people,” Judge Gucciardo said. McKay had alcohol and drug abuse issues for years in the lead up to the crime but he has been sober since, the judge noted.

He is remorseful for the attack but it’s not the first time he has stabbed someone he knew after drinking.

McKay was fined nearly $5000 for slashing a friend and stabbing a woman, also in the thigh, in Western Australia in 2009.

“The victim of the WA assault was also a friend. A neighbour who had sought to help you find work,” Judge Gucciardo said.

McKay wept in the dock as the sentence was handed down, while family members and his girlfriend were present in court.

He was ordered to serve at least 10 months in jail before being eligible for parole.

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[Teh One Who Knocks]

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[Teh One Who Knocks]

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Good friends