Launceston Supreme Court: Cody James Hingston sentenced for golf club attack on twin sister’s partner

A Tasmanian man who smashed a golf club on the arm of his sister’s partner, stabbed him in the back with it and threatened to kill him has learned his fate in court.

A man has been sentenced to jail time after assaulting his sister’s partner with a golf club.

A man who smashed a golf club on the arm of his sister’s partner during a sustained attack will serve a jail term, the Supreme Court in Launceston has heard.

Cody James Hingston, now 29, pleaded guilty to two counts of wounding Adrian Francis Rees on January 28, 2023.

The court heard Hingston did not like Mr Rees, now 61, who was his twin sister’s then partner.

He drove up behind Rees’ car in broad daylight outside the home he shared with Ms Hingston.

Launceston Supreme Court. Picture: Patrick Gee

He exited his car with the golf club and struck the car which also contained his three nephews.

“When he [Mr Rees] got out of his car you struck him in the arm so hard that the golf club broke,” Justice Robert Pearce said in sentencing.

Hingston then stabbed Mr Rees in the forearm with the broken shaft of the club.

“You then produced a folding handyman knife and threatened to kill him. You tried to stab him in the chest but missed, leaving only a scratch, but then stabbed him in the back while repeating your threat to kill him.

“You drove away taking his car keys which you removed from his car. That was the stealing.”

Mr Rees suffered injuries to his abdomen, arm and a deep wound to his upper back from the knife.

Hingston denied the attack to police but forensic analysis found a high-grade DNA match on the golf stick to both Hingston and Mr Rees and also a match to Mr Rees from blood on the inside of Hingston’s car.

Justice Pearce said it was significant that the attack was witnessed by at least one of Mr Rees’ children who told police “daddy was stabbed by his uncle”.

“Your animosity towards Mr Rees was motivated by your belief about his conduct towards your sister and was intended to be protective of her, but, regardless of the reason for it, it did not justify such violence,” Justice Pearce said.

A man has been sentenced to jail time after assaulting his sister’s partner with a golf club.

“You used weapons in such a way that you could only have intended to wound him. “

Hingston told Department of Corrections officers that he did not want to undertake a home detention order.

As a result Justice Pearce sentenced him to a 15-month jail term of which nine months were suspended on the condition that he commit no imprisonable offence for two years.

Justice Pearce also convicted Hingston on several other charges including injure property, assault and stealing arising from the same incident and imposed a probation order for six months.

He ordered a compensation order in favour of Mr Rees in an amount to be assessed.

Last year Mr Rees was found guilty of a count of perverting justice in June 2022 after he “made threats or inducements to her [Ms Hingston] to not give evidence or to go to the police” about an assault allegation.

Mr Rees was acquitted in a Supreme Court trial of kicking Ms Hingston to the shin on October 8, 2020.

Then Acting Justice David Porter sentenced Mr Rees to a two month jail sentence on October 9, 2024 which was wholly suspended for twelve months.

Originally published as Launceston Supreme Court: Cody James Hingston sentenced for golf club attack on twin sister’s partner