Witnesses blinded by drugs

THREE people present when a New Norfolk man was allegedly stabbed by his brother have told the Supreme Court they have suffered memory lapses about the event.

New Norfolk shearer Shane Bennett yesterday told the court his brother, Trysten Anthony Bennett, stabbed him in the back in their mother’s lounge room on the night of February 16, 2013.

Trysten Bennett, 41, has pleaded not guilty to causing grievous bodily harm.

“Trysten came towards me with a knife in his hand,” Shane Bennett told the court.

“I said, ‘What are you going to do with that? Are you going to stab me?’ He said, ‘I am,’ and he proceeded to do so. It didn’t feel like a stab, it felt like a punch ... I didn’t realise the knife was in me.”

Mr Bennett punched his brother several times in a bid to get away. “My younger brother stepped in and alerted me I had a knife in my back and pulled it out,” he said.

Mr Bennett was taken to the Royal Hobart Hospital, where he had surgery for a punctured lung.

He told the court his mother had told him he would be bashed and disinherited if he gave evidence and that other witnesses planned to say they couldn’t remember anything.

Daniel Luke Bennett gave evidence that he was on drugs on the night and couldn’t remember much at all apart from the blue flashing lights of the police cars.

“I don’t recall the whole evening,” he told the court. He answered questions with the words, “I don’t recall,” no fewer than 34 times.

Lynette Bennett said she had taken medication, which had affected her memory of the events involving her sons. “It’s all quite a blur,” she said.

A triple-0 call Mrs Bennett made on the night was played to the court.

“I’ve got Trysten Bennett in the house with a knife threatening his brother and he’s drunk,” she told the operator.

Another witness told the court she had no memory of the evening because she was on drugs.

The trial continues before Chief Justice Alan Blow.