William Dawes: Ulmarra man sentenced for assault at Maclean Local Court

A young Clarence man found his girlfriend in bed with a former friend, so he decided to get in on the action — but did so by bringing a kitchen knife into the bedroom and starting a brawl.

When a young Clarence man found his girlfriend in bed with a mutual acquaintance, he decided to run into the bedroom, jump into the bed and assault the other man with a kitchen knife, a court has heard.

Ulmarra man William Dawes, 26, who until recently was living with his now-former girlfriend in Iluka, fronted Maclean Local Court on Thursday.

The jilted lover pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm; two counts of intimidation and intentionally destroying property.

Dawes was convicted of all offences and sentenced to an 18 month community corrections order.

William Dawes outside Maclean Local Court.

According to documents tendered to the court, the 26 year old’s outburst began when he drove to Iluka with his mother on March 5. He was returning to the home of his girlfriend’s parents, which he had been living in for about a year.

When the pair arrived at the house, Dawes immediately noticed another car — one which did not belong to his partner at the time — parked in the driveway, a court heard.

Dawes entered the house and soon heard another man’s voice coming from the bedroom, at which point he grabbed a kitchen knife.

“(He then) goes into the bedroom and sees (his girlfriend) on the bed cuddling another man who he knows,” police facts state.

“(Dawes) jumps over (the girlfriend) and lands on top of (the man she was with).”

In a terrifying series of events, Dawes then proceeds to “hold the knife up to the chest” of the man, who tried to defend himself and received deep cuts to his fingers causing him to bleed “profusely”.

Dawes’ girlfriend then “jumped on top of both (men) to try and protect the victim,” police facts state.

The trio continued to “wrestle on the bed” before the girlfriend told Dawes to pack his belongings and leave, a court heard.

William Dawes (right) entered the bedroom with a kitchen knife.

On the way out, still holding the kitchen knife, court documents state Dawes punched his girlfriend’s television, causing it to crack, and also attempted to slash multiple car tyres.

“(He also) noticed a bag of cannabis on the kitchen table and (took) it with him,” police facts state.

When the girlfriend left the house, she told Dawes’ mum someone had been stabbed and his mother immediately called the police.

But after Dawes got into his mother’s car, the wrestling didn’t stop — his girlfriend had noticed the bag of cannabis he had grabbed from her home.

“(She) climbed into the car and got on top of (Dawes) … they both continued to wrestle the bag of cannabis from each other’s hands,” court documents state.

“(She) sustained injuries to her neck, arm and hands as a result of the melee inside the car.

“The bag eventually breaks.”

William Dawes was convicted of all offences.

In court, defence lawyer Holly Shilling said even though the charges were “extremely serious”, her client had no previous criminal record.

She also said he had never intended to hurt anyone with the knife and had only wanted the other man to leave the home.

The court also heard since the offending Dawes — who was a habitual pot smoker — had abstained from marijuana.

Magistrate Juliana Crofts said the offences were very serious.

“There is no excuse for any behaviour like this particularly as it escalates to such serious levels of criminality,” Ms Crofts said.

“I hope you have regard to how your victims felt … there are appropriate ways to react and this is quite simply not that,” she added.

However she also told the court the offending appeared to be out of character for the young man who had no previous criminal record.