Stab attacker jailed

Victim lucky to be alive after heart punctured

A CAPE York brawl turned deadly when bystander Ewan Deeral stabbed one of the pugilists in the heart.

His victim, 20, suffered two incisions to the heart – one in the right ventricle and one in the interior wall.

Crown prosecutor Patrick Nevard told Cairns District Court the man would have died had he not received lifesaving emergency surgery.

“He began to bleed into the sack that surrounded the heart,” Mr Nevard said.

“The heart became compressed and would be unable to pump blood around the body. This would lead to … organ failure and death.”

He said Deeral’s reasons for intervening in the fight last May at Hopevale were unclear.

The defendant retrieved the knife from a house, threatened the victim and stabbed him in the chest.

“He took it upon himself to become involved,” Mr Nevard said.

Deeral pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm, public nuisance and assault occasioning bodily harm.

The stabbing was not Deeral’s first armed foray in public.

The former ranger and station hand, 28, held convictions for brandishing a spear and a machete.

The court heard he assaulted a Cairns youth in October 2017.

“You punched a 17 -yearold when you asked for a cigarette and he said he did not smoke,” Judge Dean Morzone said.

“You need to work out what is making you so angry.

“I’m troubled that you don’t care much about the law.”

He told the defendant the stabbing victim, a painter, had feared for his life and was still recovering from his injuries.

“This could have been so much worse,” Judge Morzone said.

“He doesn’t have the wage behind him to pay rent or provide for his 20-month-old daughter.”

He sentenced Deeral to four years and nine months in jail including 325 days time served, with a parole eligibility date of September 11.

Deeral will also serve 40 hours of community service upon release.

“Soon, the young men in the community will look to you as an emerging elder,” Judge Morzone said.