Jail time for stabbing pub pool player

A MAN who stabbed a stranger three times during a game of pool in a pub was lucky to not be facing “mandatory life in jail”, a court was told.

Judge Julie Dick also said people needed to be deterred from carrying knives as “stabbings are a scourge of the Gold Coast” and it was often just a centimetre between “death and wounding”.

Judge Dick, who usually presides in Brisbane but has been visiting Southport for the past fortnight, made the comments while sentencing Daniel Francis Wegener in the Southport District Court for grievous bodily harm and unlawful wounding

Wegener was playing pool with a stranger at a Tugun pub on November 12, 2019 when the pair got into a “stupid argument”.

During the fight the stranger broke a glass over Wegener’s head.

Wegener pulled a knife and stabbed the man three times – in the forearm, chest and armpit.

The blow to the forearm severed a nerve.

Judge Dick sentenced Wegener to four years in prison, to be suspended after he has served 12 months.

“Stabbings on the Gold Coast are a scourge … read today’s paper,” she said during sentencing proceedings.

Judge Dick was referring to an article in the Gold Coast Bulletin discussing proposed laws to allow police to use metal-detecting “wands” to scan patrons in the party precinct.

She said she was “disturbed” that Wegener was carrying a knife.

“You are lucky it is not more serious,” she said.

“You are lucky because you would be facing mandatory life jail time.

“In my experience when you attack someone with a knife there is a centimetre in it whether it is death or wounding.”

Prosecutor Michael Mitchell told the court the victim had surgery since the incident and had trouble sleeping and paranoia.

Defence barrister Bernard Reilly, instructed by Allen & Searing Criminal Lawyers, tendered to the court Wegener’s mental health records and medical records showing he had been injured in the scuffle.

STABBINGS ON THE GOLD COAST ARE A SCOURGE … READ TODAY’S PAPER

JUDGE JULIE DICK