CRAIG Miller was drunk when he lured a 26-year-old associate to his house at Blackalls Park, pulled a knife out from under his jumper and stabbed the man in the right wrist, causing a deep cut before chasing him down the road, court documents state.
Miller appeared in Newcastle Local Court this week via audio visual link from mid-north coast correctional centre where he pleaded guilty to reckless wounding and possession of methamphetamine after the DPP agreed to withdraw the more serious charge of wounding a person with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
The 21-year-old will be sentenced in September and the matter will remain in the local court, where Miller faces lesser maximum penalties.
It was 2am on New Year's Eve last year and Miller and a friend had been sharing a bottle of whiskey during the afternoon when Miller "arranged" for a 26-year-old man to come to his house at Blackalls Park.
The victim was in a friend's car and on his way home when he told the driver to pull over out the front of Miller's house in Faucett Street.
Text messages obtained by police show the victim was waiting for Miller and sent him a text first saying "Oi" and then another one that said: "Bro I gotta go u coming out front?"
Miller and the man he had been drinking with came outside and the victim later told police he thought they were all on good terms.
But the conversation suddenly became heated and Miller pulled a knife out from under his jumper and swung it at the victim, striking him in the right forearm.
He then chased the victim down the street before running back into his house.
The victim's friend drove him to Toronto Private Hospital but due to significant blood loss from the wound to his arm he was rushed to John Hunter Hospital in an ambulance.
The victim's friend later refused to assist police and provide a statement, police said.
Police went to John Hunter Hospital and spoke to the victim before arresting Miller and his friend at Miller's house at about 2.50am.
During an interview, Miller's friend denied any knowledge or involvement in the stabbing and was released without charge.
Miller, meanwhile, told police he had arranged for the victim, via Facebook messenger, to attend his house before the stabbing.
He told police that after the stabbing he went back inside his house and said police would find a blood-stained green towel in the laundry and the knife used during the stabbing in a white basket.
He also said police would find a bag of methamphetamine under the washing machine.
Police later searched the home and found the towel, the knife used in the stabbing, as well as three other knives, the jumper Miller was wearing during the stabbing and a bag containing about one gram of methamphetamine.
Forensic testing revealed both Miller and the victim's DNA was found on the green towel and Miller's DNA was on the handle of one of the knives.
The victim's DNA was not found on any other items that police seized.
As a result of the stabbing, the victim had to have surgery after sustaining a 10 centimetre laceration to his right wrist, a fracture to his wrist and a laceration to an artery that caused a loss of sensation in a finger on his right hand.
Miller, who has been behind bars for seven months since his arrest, faces the maximum of two years in jail for the charge of reckless wounding when he is sentenced in Newcastle Local Court on September 15.
Bro I gotta go u coming out front?
The victim sent Craig Miller two messages in the minutes before the 21-year-old came outside his house at Blackalls Park and stabbed him last year.
