Trio jailed over melee

THREE men involved in a shocking drunken melee - which ended in a stabbing - in a Warwick park last year are today reflecting on their behaviour behind bars.

Picture: © iStockphoto.com/antb

THREE men involved in a shocking drunken melee - which ended in a stabbing - in a Warwick park last year are today reflecting on their behaviour behind the bars of a prison cell.

Nathan Anthony Finnie, Jason Corey Brackin and Clinton William Woodbridge spent most of yesterday in the dock of the Warwick Courthouse while appearing before the District Court on its current visit to town.

The court was told the trio was among one of two large groups of intoxicated individuals who descended on Victoria Park opposite Warwick Hospital on the night of November 27.

Their visit to the park followed a flurry of mobile phone calls and texts over previous hours to arrange a “one-on-one” fight between Brackin and another person.

But the confrontation erupted into a series of brawls, with Finnie eventually stabbing an adversary twice in the back with a 20cm knife that he had earlier waved around and carried in a plaster cast on his arm.

The court heard that in the lead-up to the stabbing by Finnie, Brackin had repeatedly hit the man in the head with a bottle while Woodbridge went at him with his fists.

The stabbed man was assisted to the hospital where he was given emergency treatment before being flown to the Princess Alexandra (PA) Hospital in Brisbane by rescue helicopter.

Finnie, Brackin and Woodbridge, all aged 19 at the time of the incident, pleaded guilty yesterday to assault causing grievous bodily harm.

The Crown Prosecutor told Judge Irwin the victim of the stabbing had suffered “a deflated lung, a severed spleen and a punctured diaphragm”.

A trauma specialist said in a later statement that such injuries could have led to the man's death if left untreated.

Finnie's defence lawyer told the court his client stabbed the man after the two fell to the ground during the course of their struggle, with Finnie - who was underneath - stabbing the man in an attempt to get him off.

It was contended in earlier proceedings that Finnie's victim had produced a weapon in the form of a metal pole. Other items present during the melee were said to have included a 'cow jigger' and a cricket bat.

Finnie also pleaded guilty to charges of public nuisance and obstructing police arising from October last year.

He was also involved in a group assault with star pickets on a man in the Warwick CBD in February, 2008.

Finnie was sentenced to five years in jail and will become eligible for parole after serving 10 months, having already served 301 days in custody, declared time already served, before his sentencing yesterday.

Brackin received a sentence of three and a half years jail, with parole eligibility after serving 15 months.

Woodbridge - who was also re-sentenced yesterday for an earlier assault of another man in February 2008, for which he was placed on probation - was jailed for a total of six years for both offences and will serve two years before becoming eligible for parole.

Also sentenced with Woodbridge yesterday for the February 2008 assault in which he was also involved, was Thomas James Ebsworth, 22.

He was jailed for three years, to be eligible for parole after 12 months.

Originally published as Trio jailed over melee