Jail after troppo angler’s stabbing

THE tropical heat proved too much for boatie Mathew Edward Darcy, who stabbed his shipmate after enduring “squalid conditions” in the peak of summer, a court heard.

Darcy and his wife moved on to a boat on Trinity Inlet earlier this year after moving from Western Australia.

They lived with the boat’s owner in cramped quarters.

“Conditions were undesirable,” defence barrister Michael Dalton told Cairns District Court yesterday.

“They were living in squalid conditions, on top of each other, continuously, in Cairns, from January to March. “Tempers were frayed.” The court heard Darcy had been fishing and drinking on March 16 when the boat’s skipper made a wisecrack about his fishing ability.

The remark was too much for Darcy, now 49, who attacked the 64-year-old man with the boning knife he was using to cut bait.

Launching on the man, an “enraged” Darcy said “I will kill you ... I’ll cut your throat.”

Prosecutor Naomi Nelson told the court that after a flurry of punches, Darcy stabbed the man in the back, nicking his left kidney.

The injured man escaped into a dinghy and motored to the marina and was later treated at Cairns Hospital.

Darcy, in custody since the assault, pleaded guilty to assault and assault occasioning bodily harm.

In a statement to the court, the complainant said he was now scared to leave his boat and had ongoing trust issues.

Judge Brendan Butler SC said Darcy was lucky the knife did not cut deeper

“You were so lucky you did not penetrate a significant organ and truly cause a lifethreatening injury,” he said.

He jailed Darcy for 2½ years, to be paroled on November 17.

THEY WERE LIVING IN SQUALID CONDITIONS, ON TOP OF EACH OTHER, CONTINUOUSLY, IN CAIRNS, FROM JANUARY TO MARCH

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