Joshua William Heness jailed for slashing stranger’s face in Adelaide’s south

A southern suburbs cleaner who threatened to kill his cousin and slashed a stranger’s face with a knife in a random attack nearly two years ago, has been jailed.

A southern suburbs cleaner who has struggled with drug addiction has been jailed after slashing a stranger’s face with a kitchen knife.

Joshua William Heness, 32, was sentenced in the Adelaide District Court earlier this month on two counts of aggravated assault and one count aggravated causing harm with intent.

The court heard Heness had become “agitated” by a phone call between his then partner and one of his victims.

Josh Heness was imprisoned after slashing a man’s face with a kitchen knife. Picure: Facebook

On August 30, 2021, the victim attended Heness’ home along with two other males, one being Heness’ cousin, the other was unknown to him.

The court heard the victim was speaking to Heness’ partner outside of the home when Heness emerged from the house, carrying a kitchen knife in each hand.

“You ran at (the victim) and said ‘F**k off out of here or I’ll stab you’”, Judge Rauf Soulio said during sentencing.

“You were holding the knife in a threatening manner, he (the victim) tripped and fell to the ground.”

The court head Heness then proceeded to turn on the man unknown to him, making slashing motion to his face with the knives, ultimately connecting.

The victim fell to the ground and Heness continued to swing the knives at him.

Heness then chased his cousin in a ‘threatening manner’ yelling “I’ll kill you”.

“During the course of the assaults, you yelled at all three victims, saying ‘ ‘I’ll f**king kill you, I’ll f**king kill you’”, Judge Soulio said.

“The victims of the offending returned to their vehicle and drove to the Noarlunga Hospital to obtain treatment, you chased the vehicle as they were leaving and threw a knife at the vehicle.”

The court heard one of the victims had suffered a suborbital haematoma, swelling to his face and a 15 cm laceration to the left side of his face.

As a result of the injury the victim suffered dental reduction and reduced sensation on the left side of his face.

The court heard Heness’ long offending history, dating back to his early 20s which he was dealt with to suspended sentences and in May of 2020 also faced a term of imprisonment of two months for driving dangerously to escape police.

In his sentencing remarks, Judge Soulio described Heness as a ‘heavy user’ of meth and was addicted to gambling and at the time of the 2021 offending he had relapsed into meth use.

Judge Soulio sentenced Heness to three years, five months and 23 days for the August 2021 offences.

Heness was sentenced to a total of eight years, with a non parole period of six years, four months and 25 days for further offences committed against another former partner.