Stabbing victim’s attacker jailed
Call for funds after Kiwi friend dies in Honolulu
A former Rotorua man has spoken about surviving a random attack in Melbourne in which he was stabbed six times by his attacker.
Steen Locke, then 24, was sitting with a woman Kiwi friend at St Kilda Pier in Melbourne on February 7 last year when he glanced at a man arguing with a woman.
The man, Dwayne Michael Byron, then 22, yelled to Locke: “What the f*** are you looking at?” before pulling a kitchen knife out and stabbing him six times, puncturing a lung and leaving a deep wound in Locke’s neck.
Byron was yesterday sentenced in the Supreme Court of Victoria to 12 years in prison with a nine-year nonparole period.
“After he yelled at me, I said nothing and turned back to mind my own business,” Locke told the Herald.
“He ran up behind me, attacked me and then ran off. I got up, my friend took her jacket off and tried to stop the blood squirting out of my head, and we walked to the end of the pier and then I collapsed.”
Fortunately, the pair were about 10 minutes away from a hospital. Doctors told Locke if he hadn’t been rushed there for emergency surgery he would have died.
“I have the blood clotting disease von Willebrand, which basically means I don’t clot as easy as other people. I almost bled to death.
“If it had been much longer, wouldn’t be here.”
Locke, a construction worker who has lived in Melbourne for about four years, was off work for two months and had to become a machine operator as his injuries left him unable to do physical work.
Byron pleaded not guilty and Locke said he showed no remorse.
“He smirked the whole time I was giving evidence . . .”
The ordeal had been tough on his family, particularly his mother, who lives in Papamoa.
“Getting that phone call . . . worrying I wouldn’t survive and then the anger that someone could do that to someone that they loved.”
The court heard how Byron had a traumatic childhood and was homeless by the age of 11.
He has served almost 600 days in pre-sentence custody, where he is being held in tight security after assaults on prison officers. I Loved ones of a Kiwi woman have been left with a six-figure medical bill after she suffered a heart attack on a flight and had to stop in Honolulu for emergency treatment.
Carol Bartlett died despite the treatment, and was farewelled yesterday at a service in New Lynn. She had been on a flight from Vancouver to Auckland when she had the heart attack, and the plane made an emergency landing at Honolulu, according to a Givealittle page set up to help with her medical bills.
Bartlett, a teacher, fisher, and photography enthusiast in her late 60s, died on September 12.
“The Pali Momi Medical Center where Carol spent several days is not for profit, but intensive care comes at a cost, especially in the US, and it must be paid for,” the page said. “We invite those who knew and loved Carol to help cover the bill, which runs into six figures.”
So far, the page has raised at least $13,500.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said the New Zealand Consulate-General in Honolulu had provided consular support to Bartlett’s family.
The Givealittle page can be found at givealittle.co.nz