A MAN who stabbed his younger brother four times in the lower back with a kitchen knife during a heated argument at Fingal Bay has avoided a jail term in Newcastle Local Court.
Criminal defence lawyer Drew Hamilton said the attack Daniel Mulholland, 28, launched on his brother Wade Mullholland, 27, on a night in April this year needed to be viewed in the context of an "extensive history" of violence perpetrated by the victim against his older brother as well as provocation on the evening of the stabbing. The two brothers had been out together at a social gathering at Nelson Bay on April 4, drinking and, according to Daniel, using drugs and were returning home when they began arguing.
The argument became heated as they pulled up outside their house in Shoreline Drive about 2am and Wade said: "I dare you to try and get outta the car and get inside".
When Daniel stopped the car, Wade ran around to the driver's side window and punched his brother before he could take his seatbelt off. He then dragged him out of the car and the pair began fighting on the road.
Daniel managed to free himself and ran into the house, stopping to shout out: "I'm going inside. I'm gonna get a knife. I'm gonna f---ing stab ya."
Daniel then grabbed a knife from the kitchen and went back outside, ultimately stabbing his brother four times in the lower back.
Daniel then called out to his mother to call an ambulance, with paramedics finding Wade bleeding heavily from four wounds to his lower back. He needed surgery and was discharged from hospital four days later.
The prosecution had said the issue of provocation loomed large, but the break in the physical altercation - when Daniel went inside to get the knife - meant the threat had gone and he had reacted disproportionately by stabbing his brother while he was essentially in a "defenceless position".
Ultimately, Magistrate David Price found Daniel was entitled to leniency because of his "very limited" criminal history and his low risk of re-offending and said he could avoid a full-time jail term. Instead, Daniel was sentenced to an 18-month intensive corrections order.
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