Stabber sentenced more than decade after attack

A MAN who spent more than a decade on the run after pleading guilty to slashing a Gold Coast hostel roommate with a knife in a morning fight has been sentenced to six years’ jail.

Nathan John Wall, who fled Queensland on bail after the incident, was sentenced on Tuesday to six years’ jail – just over 13 years after the June 27, 2007 attack.

The Southport District Court heard Wall had arrived home at about 5am to the hostel room where he was living with three other men, turned on the light and began playing music.

It prompted a physical fight with his then 44-year-old roommate.

The roommate subdued Hall with help from the other man but when he was released, things escalated.

Crown prosecutor Gary Churchill told the court Wall got a knife from his bag and stabbed the victim.

“The defendant told him he was going to slit his throat and kill him and urinate down his neck,” Mr Churchill said.

The victim suffered a cut to the bone on his wrist, and another on the wrist requiring surgery to repair tendons. Wall was eventually disarmed.

The court heard while on the run for the wounding, Wall continued to offend in Victoria and was convicted of assaults.

He spent 467 days in presentence custody both in 2007 and after being extradited in July 2019.

Judge David Kent accepted Wall was remorseful.

“Your early plea stands to your credit, absconding obviously does not. In contrast to some offenders where a significant delay between proceedings commencing and the sentence can give rise to an inference of rehabilitation, yours unfortunately is completely the reverse situation.

“You committed a serious offence of violence and in the interim period you have demonstrated an ongoing propensity for violence.”

Wall will be eligible for parole on April 3, 2022.