Jakeob Edward Lavelle: Tweed Heads man, 23, avoids jail-time after stabbing security guard outside Manhattan Club Showgirls

A Tweed man went on a 20-plus drink bender and stabbed a pub security guard through the hand when the brave bouncer swooped in to save a reveller from being knifed in the neck.

Jakeob Edward Lavelle, 23, faced Lismore District Court, and avoided time behind bars.

A Tweed man went on a 20-plus drink bender and stabbed a pub security guard through the hand when the brave bouncer swooped in to save a reveller from being knifed in the neck.

But Jakeob Edward Lavelle avoided time in prison following the horrific street attack and has instead been sentenced to serve an intensive correction order in the community over two years and four months.

The Tweed Heads man, 23, was surrounded by family who watched on quietly from the gallery during his sentencing at Lismore District Court.

Jakeob Edward Lavelle, 23, outside Tweed Heads Local Court in November last year.

The court heard on Monday that Lavelle and another man had a disagreement with a group at Dolphins Harbourside Hotel and he was removed from the venue about 12.20am on April 8.

Security asked for his glass as he left and Lavelle told the bouncer: “I should be shoving this in your f--king face.”

Soon after, Lavelle was outside nearby strip club Manhattan Club Showgirls and ended up resuming the confrontation with one of the men from the pub.

The man mocked Lavelle: “You’re not so tough without your blade, are you?”.

Lavelle said he did not have a knife – but the bouncer from Dolphins spotted a blade in his hand as he attempted to separate the men.

Lavelle was seen raising his arm and preparing to stab the other reveller in the neck while his back was turned, police state.

The guard leapt into action and stopped the knife within 10 centimetres of it piercing the skin.

Manhattan Club Showgirls. Picture: Google Maps

But protecting the man came at a cost and the bouncer yelled: “I’ve been stabbed, call the police. I need to go to hospital.”

Lavelle backed away, still holding the knife, and walked off, the court was told.

Judge Jonathan Priestley said “he had no regard for the person who’d just been stabbed”.

“The victim needed surgery immediately,” he told the court.

The guard said in his victim impact statement he needed three surgeries on fingers and a silicon rod was inserted after the blade went through his hand.

“The tendons, nerves and arteries were cut at the base of his right index and right middle finger,” police state.

He was an artist and now cannot write, draw and struggles to use a computer. The man used to box and train, but that has also been taken from him.

The man said he was anxious, unmotivated and depressed following the Tweed Heads incident.

Dolphins Harbourside Hotel. Picture: Google Maps

Judge Priestley said Lavelle’s offending happened after about “20 drinks”.

“It’s drunken, senseless violence – something is bound to happen (when someone is that intoxicated),” he said.

Lavelle lived with autism, attention deficit disorder, oppositional defiance disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and post traumatic stress disorder after a troubled upbringing.

The court was told his mother claimed she did not drink during pregnancy, but Lavelle was believed to have foetal alcohol syndrome.

Judge Priestley was not convinced Lavelle had abstained from drinking and drugs, but said he engaged positively with drug and alcohol counsellors.

Mr Priestley said Lavelle needed “team of health professionals” to get him on track.

Psychologist Dr Bronwyn Hudson told the court prison would exacerbate mental health issues, trigger memories of past abuse and limit support to change.

She said the intensive order would allow ”supports, medications, and interventions”.

Mr Priestley said Lavelle was “walking around late at night, drunk, with a flick knife” and “brought his right hand down at speed on another person” while armed.

But he also agreed Lavelle had a lower level of moral culpability due to his conditions.

Lavelle previously pleaded guilty to reckless grievous bodily harm and stalking and intimidation.

He was convicted, placed on the order and Mr Priestley said: “Keep doing the good things you’re doing. Abstain from alcohol and drugs. Follow your treatment program.”