Joshua Matthew Hubbard sentenced for murder of man near Lockhart River

A man who was convinced his friend “put heroin in the water” has been sentenced for stabbing him to death at a Far North camp.

A man who was convinced his friend was “the devil” has been sentenced to 11 years jail for stabbing him to death at a Far North camp.

Joshua Matthew Hubbard, a pale, small-framed man dressed in a pale blue short sleeved shirt and khaki shorts, was charged with murder but the Mental Health Court found he had impaired capacity due to drug-induced psychosis and he pleaded guilty to manslaughter as well as grievous bodily harm.

Prosecutor Chris Cook told the court Hubbard, who was 37 at the time, moved to Portland Rd, a fledgling community north of Lockhart River, six months before the murder of James Noel Trevor, 60, on August 1, 2019.

He had used a gram a day of cannabis for 20 years and his partner noticed him behaving strangely in the weeks leading up to the attack, Mr Cook said.

Hubbard told his partner James had put heroin in the water.

“She told him he was having a psychotic episode and to back off the weed, he didn’t,” Mr Cook said.

Hubbard’s mother sent him a parcel containing tarot cards and Hubbard said the devil card was James.

Hubbard held a burning ceremony on July 31 and in the morning told his partner he wanted to hit James over the head with a torch.

James and his wife Sandra Hainsworth were sitting together having a cup of tea when Hubbard, who always carried a large dagger-style knife with a double edge blade knife, approached.

He told Sandra “you’ve got to get away” and stabbed James in the back.

Sandra Hainsworth’s husband James Trevor was stabbed to death by Joshua Matthew Hubbard at Portland Rd, near Lockhart River, on August 1, 2019. She said the trauma was never ending. Picture: Bronwyn Farr

James yelled, Hubbard pulled the knife out and stabbed him in the back again, then crouched over him and stabbed him a third time, in the left side of his neck.

He held the knife as though he was going to stab James again and Sandra intervened, and was stabbed in the forearm, suffering a 15cm laceration, resulting in the grievous bodily harm charge.

“She’s really become collateral damage in his attempts to continue to attack James,” Mr Cook said.

Twirling the knife in his hands, he was heard to say James was the devil.

“James died at the scene, he said ‘I’m going to die’ to Sandra three times, an ambulance was called, it took 30 or 40 minutes,” Mr Cook said.

James died in his wife’s arms.

Hubbard went to a neighbouring property and said “Jimbo was evil, he put heroin in the water”.

One psychiatrist giving evidence at the Mental Health Court said there was a high likelihood he would develop schizophrenia even without continued drug use, Mr Cook said.

Ms Hainsworth, a frail woman in a wheelchair who was 65 at the time, said no sentence would be long enough to replace the loss of her husband.

“The trauma is never ending, my husband was coldly taken away, the impact is lifelong, my heart breaks,” she said in a trembling voice.

Joshua Matthew Hubbard believed a man he stabbed to death was "the devil" after receiving a deck of tarot cards from his mother. Picture: supplied

“I will never forget what it was like to hear the first stabs,” she said.

“I suffer from depression, emotional trauma, anxiety, social anxiety, paranoia, daily shaking, and jumping awake at night shaking every two hours,” Ms Hainsworth said.

“I suffer constant pain in my arm and hand, simple things have been taken from me like shaking sugar on cereal.”

Defence barrister James Sheridan said his client was genuinely remorseful for an act with devastating consequences, and provided multiple character references.

“His future prognosis is one where there is some hope,” Mr Sheridan said.

Chief Justice Helen Bowskill said the Mental Health Court finding meant Hubbard had a partial defence of diminished responsibility.

“The circumstances are horrific,” she said.

“This was the completely unprovoked and violent killing of a person who was otherwise your friend and who you had known for about four years.

“It is a complete fallacy in our community that cannabis is a benign drug.”

“This came about because of your length of use of cannabis,” she said, noting he could develop other conditions such as schizophrenia.

She sentenced Hubbard to seven and a half years for manslaughter and three years for grievous bodily harm in Cairns Supreme Court on Monday, declaring 1313 days in custody as not being time already served – effectively an 11 year sentence.

He is eligible for parole on February 1, 2025.

Originally published as Joshua Matthew Hubbard sentenced for murder of man near Lockhart River