Strip club stabber pleads guilty

A Tweed Heads man on bail for stabbing a security guard through his hand while attempting to stab another punter outside a Tweed Heads strip club will be sentenced.

Jakeob Edward Lavelle, 23, appeared before judge Jonathan Priestley in Lismore District Court on Wednesday.

He was represented by barrister Gemunu Kumarasinhe when he pleaded guilty to a single charge of reckless grievous bodily harm with a charge of stalk/intimidate intend fear physical to be taken into account on sentence.

Charges of intimidation and wounding someone with the intention of causing grievous bodily harm were dropped, with Judge Priestley ordering a sentencing assessment report for Lavelle.

Lavelle was removed from Dolphins Harbourside Hotel in Tweed Heads, about 12.20am on April 8, 2023, for being aggressive, an agreed set of police facts state.

When security asked for his glass on ejection Lavelle told the bouncer: “I should be shoving this in your f..king face.”

He then went next door and got into a scrap with a patron entering Manhattan Club Showgirls.

“You’re not so tough without your blade, are you?” the man said to Lavelle. “I don’t have my blade,” Lavelle said.

But a security guard from the hotel saw a knife on Lavelle as he attempted to separate the men. “I’m going to f..king stab you. Do you want to get f..king stabbed?” Lavelle said to the man.

The facts state Lavelle had raised his arm in readiness to plunge the knife down on the man’s neck whose back was turned to Lavelle.

The bouncer grabbed at Lavelle’s hand within 10cm of reaching the man’s neck.

He then “pulled his hand away and clenched his fist as blood began running down his hand” and called out “I’ve been stabbed, call the police. I need to go to hospital.”

Police were called to the hotel and a witness identified Lavelle. He was later arrested and charged after the bouncer’s DNA was confirmed on the knife. He will to face an hourlong sentencing hearing in Lismore District Court on April 15.