Comancheros bikie Raymond Jones faces jail for stabbing man in front of his young daughter at Blakeview
A BIKIE stabbed an innocent father in front of his terrified young daughter, in an unprovoked crime that has devastated their lives, a court has heard.
A BIKIE stabbed an innocent father in front of his terrified young daughter, in an unprovoked crime that has devastated their lives, a court has heard.
Raymond Patrick Harley Jones, 30, cut off his electronic monitoring bracelet and fled on the last day of his District Court assault trial in October last year.
Jones, of Blakeview, in Adelaide’s north, was later convicted by the jury — in his absence — of stabbing a 33-year old father-of-three in February 2015. He faces up to 13 years in jail.
During his almost two months on the run, Jones — a member of the Comancheros outlaw motorcycle gang — taunted police with pictures of himself on social media.
Jones, who has an extensive violent criminal history, was arrested in December last year after allegedly committing further crimes including ramming a police car.
The trial heard how Jones launched his unprovoked attack on the father — who was unknown to Jones and was at his friend’s house to help clean — as the victim’s terrified seven-year-old daughter watched in horror.
Sitting in the back seat of her mother’s car, the schoolgirl, who cannot be named, yelled to her father in the driver’s seat: “Daddy, he has got a knife”.
Despite being stabbed in the chest and arms, the victim drove to nearby Elizabeth Police Station before being rushed to Royal Adelaide Hospital.
The victim’s friend was forced to climb on to the roof of his Blakeview home to avoid being attacked. During a sentencing submissions hearing on Wednesday, the court was told how the attack had affected the victim and his family.
In his victim impact statement, read by prosecutor Carmen Matteo to the court, the man said he had been left with paranoia.
He said his daughter had changed from a happy, outgoing child to a traumatised girl who suffers night terrors and screams if she sees a tattooed person.
“To watch her change so dramatically has been heartbreaking,” he said.
Helen Yuu, defending, said her client apologised for absconding in a “spur of the moment” decision. She said he had left his bikie gang but still socialised with members.
Jones, a father of five, had also given up heavy drug use, she added.
Judge Geraldine Davison said she was sceptical and asked for evidence this was the case. She asked whether Jones was remorseful for his actions, to which Ms Yuu said she had “no instructions”.
Judge Davison added “he did not give himself in and if I accept what I saw in the paper, he taunted the authorities in his time on the run”.
She remanded Jones in custody to face further sentencing submissions next month. He will face court next week on allegations he rammed a police car.
