BOXER’S KILLER ‘ DEEPLY SORRY’
A CONVICTED drug trafficker who stabbed a former boxing champion to death at a Hermit Park home “never intended to kill anybody” and will be sorry for the rest of his life.
In the Townsville Supreme Court yesterday, Jessie Ronald Gordon, now 22, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Quinton Donahue in 2016.
With time already served, Gordon will spend at least five- and- a- half more years in prison before walking free, a sentence Mr Donahue’s partner Kylie Barnsley has slammed as inadequate and unfair.
“It’s been a rollercoaster for two- and- a- half years,” she said.
“He didn’t just take a life that day, he took a lot of lives.
“It’s been hard, it’s been a long journey for me and my children.”
Mr Donahue, 37, of Vin- cent, a former Australian junior lightweight boxing champion, was stabbed to death at a home in Ackers St, Hermit Park, on April 17, 2016.
The court was told Mr Donahue had gone to 28 Ackers St about 6.30pm that day to settle an initial fight between him and a man named Mitchell Wilson in the Stockland’s Kmart carpark about 2pm.
After some “trash talking” and threats, the men began tussling on the ground in the sunroom. Mr Donahue was armed with a pool cue and Mr Wilson with an extendible metal baton and a crutch as a shield, in a “consensual fight”.
Gordon and another man tried to get the pair to stop fighting but were ignored.
The court was told Mr Donahue had been high on the drug ice at the time, his addiction described as “toxic”.
Gordon was also described by Justice David North as a “meth addict” during that period.
It was when Mr Donahue overpowered Mr Wilson that Gordon stepped in, grabbing a medium- sized knife from inside his pants and swiftly stabbing the victim three times.
The autopsy report found one stab wound punctured his lung and the other his heart, while the third was superficial.
Mr Donahue was forced down the stairs and collapsed outside the house before Gordon ran away. Mr Donahue died at the scene.
In a letter written by Gor- don addressed to the Donahue family and read to the court, he said if he could turn back time and change things, he would.
“I am deeply sorry from the bottom of my heart,” he said.
“I don’t ask for forgiveness, only some understanding that I never intended to kill anybody.
“From that day on I have always been ashamed and remorseful for my actions, I will always be sorry for the rest of my life.”
Mr Donahue’s mother Norma, in her victim impact statement, said she didn’t want to hold on to the anger.
“My son is gone and my heart is broken, but I do not wish to feed the anger,” Mrs Donahue said.
“There is so much more to this than just an act of violence.”
Gordon was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for the manslaughter charge and will serve at least 80 per cent of his sentence.