By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A man who fatally stabbed a fellow caravan park resident in a “violent, drug and alcohol-induced tragedy” in Dandenong South has been jailed.
The 27-year-old pleaded guilty at the Victorian Supreme Court to the manslaughter of Chris Lyons and to recklessly causing injury to the victim’s son Tyson at Shawlands Caravan Park on 4 September 2021 – the eve of Father’s Day.
The accused has not been named due to having a pending trial in the County Court.
In sentencing on 5 May, Justice Lex Lasry stated that the intoxicated man stabbed Mr Lyons, 40, three times in the neck and left torso with a knife in the man’s own caravan.
There were a further eight incisions to Mr Lyon’s face, head and neck.
In the leadup, Mr Lyons had been slapping his son. The accused tried to intervene, picking up a knife and stabbing the victim, Justice Lasry stated.
“The stabbing occurred in a very small space, conducive to increasing the atmosphere and stress.
“It was brief but it was ferocious.
“It is true that it was not a premeditated attack.
“It was a thought process consistent with a man with an IQ of 59 who is in his own home and feels threatened.”
The accused man also inflicted a significant stab wound through the “full depth” of the son’s arm as the son tried to intervene.
Mr Lyons staggered out of the caravan with a hammer in his hand and died at the scene.
When police arrived, an “aggressive” accused threatened them and dared them to “shoot me”.
He was arrested, sedated and transported to hospital to treat a cut to the top of his head.
“And so ended an extended, violent and futile series of incidents with the culmination being that a life was lost, another person was injured all entirely without reason or logic,” Justice Lasry said.
“Yet another violent, drug and alcohol-induced tragedy.”
Justice Lasry referred to police being called to the caravan over reported drunken fighting half-an-hour early.
Both the accused and Mr Lyons were observedly “intoxicated” and “verbally aggressive” towards the officers.
“There’s no fight, there could be a massive fight if I want,” Mr Lyons said to police.
After police left, Mr Lyons and his son rounded on a Shawlands resident.
Mr Lyons threatened the resident, swung at him and at times wielded a box-cutter knife.
After the confrontation, Mr Lyons slapped his son six times in the face and they continued the argument in the caravan.
Justice Lasry noted the accused’s “lengthy” criminal history spanning 12 appearances was an “unenviable record for one so young”. He had been on bail at the time on a robbery charge.
From 14, he had been taking drugs, mainly methamphetamine and alcohol.
During his deprived childhood, he was subjected to violence and “profound trauma”. This significantly reduced his moral culpability, the judge found.
The “early negative experiences” was linked to his diagnosed PTSD and major depression with anxious distress.
Still young, the accused had “reasonable” rehabilitation prospects and had shown motivation on previous community corrections orders.
His relatively early guilty plea and remorse were also taken into account.
The man was jailed for up to eight-and-a-half years, including a six-and-a-half year non-parole period. He had served 608 days in pre-sentence remand.
“If you face the prospect of any further sentence for serious offences of violence your life will be effectively ruined for good,” the judge said.
