Dealer punched man
Threatened pair after driving erratically
A GEELONG drug dealer serving time for manslaughter punched a man weeks before fatally stabbing his client.
Joshua Hocking, who is serving a nine-year sentence for manslaughter, faced Geelong Magistrate’s Court charged with the June 2020 assault.
Hocking was jailed earlier the year after fatally stabbing Whittington man Geoffrey McDonald in the neck after Mr McDonald hit him three times with a 70cm conduit during a fight.
The court heard months before the fatal fight, Hocking was spotted driving erratically in a residential Lara street.
Upon being asked to slow down, Hocking said he would “put a f---ing crowbar” through the complainant’s head.
When another neighbour tried to come to the complainant’s aid, Hocking punched the second person in the chest. Hocking fled the scene with an unknown woman.
The victim experienced chest pain and was in and out of consciousness when police arrived on the scene.
The court heard the victim was later rushed to Geelong hospital for observation.
Hocking was arrested a short time later and taken to Corio police station.
Defence counsel Joseph
Adamo said his client was serving a nine-year sentence and had already “spent a large portion of his life in prison”.
He also faced court on separate charges of trespassing, unlicensed driving and cannabis possession.
Hocking, who pleaded guilty to the charge, was slapped with a $1000 fine and two months’ imprisonment to be served concurrently with his longer sentence.
He will spend at least 6½ years of the nine-year manslaughter sentence behind bars before he is eligible for parole.
Following the fatal stabbing, Hocking told the Supreme Court that he acted with “excessive self-defence” after a violent threat from the victim.
A 17-year-old man who was home at the time of the incident discovered Mr McDonald with life-threatening injuries.
He later died in hospital.