Merrylands: Abdul Matin Thamasi sentenced for stabbing Ali Barfi at Post Office Lane

A drug user who requested ice from a man in a western Sydney laneway knifed him multiple times in “excessive self defence” after he took offence to the suggestion. Now he has faced his fate.

A man who unleashed a flurry of stabbing strikes on a man he requested the drug ice from in a Merrylands laneway has been sentenced in court more than a year after he inflicted multiple wounds on the victim.

Abdul Matin Thamasi, 30, pulled out a kitchen knife on Ali Barfi at Post Office Lane on February 21 last year after they got into a heated argument when Thamasi asked the 38 year old for the drug shortly before 11pm.

“The outcome of that encounter was that the offender repeatedly stabbed the victim and the victim sustained a number of wounds, including to his body, his neck and on the hand,’’ Judge Christopher Craigie told Parramatta District Court on Friday.

The court heard how CCTV footage captured from Merrylands RSL Club showed the melee unfolding across from the Miller St club at the laneway, where the victim was with a friend before Thamasi approached them.

Thamasi’s conversation with Mr Barfi escalated when ice was discussed.

“The response on the part of the victim is a strong one,’’ Justice Craigie said.

“He appears to have reacted with a persistent attitude of some extreme irritation.’’

Thamasi backed off and retreated from the victim, with at least one of 10 “distinct movements” involving Mr Barfi pushing the offender.

But Thamasi then produced a kitchen knife, causing the “horrified” victim to back away.

“The victim kept striking at the victim in what was a continuous flurry of blows,’’ Justice Craigie said.

Post Office Lane at Merrylands where a man was stabbed on a Sunday night in February. Picture: Google Maps

“The victim then backed away retreating to the nearby corner of Miller St no more than three or four metres behind him at that stage.’’

Thamasi followed him and several witnesses from a restaurant emerged to call police and the ambulance while lending assistance.

The knifings included a 5cm wound to the left side of Mr Barfi’s neck and a 15cm wound to his chest.

The court heard how Thamasi, an Afghan refugee, carried a knife after being the victim of a stabbing in 2020 but Justice Craigie did not accept it was needed for self defence after Mr Barfi was intimidating him.

“I must say, with respect, it is a very thin claim,’’ he told the court, adding it showed “loss of control”.

He said using a knife was “totally unacceptable” and a penetrating wound “could have had the most catastrophic of outcomes”.

Mr Barfi was not armed.

On Friday, Thamasi pleaded guilty to reckless wounding.

He appeared relaxed and smiled occasionally throughout the sentence, when a Dari interpreter assisted him.

The court heard Thamasi was exposed to violence in Afghanistan where the Taliban killed his father while he was driving a truck.

Thamasi was just seven when his dad died and since witnessed suicide and bomb attacks and witnessed his cousin’s death when he was 14.

He migrated to Australia in 2013 and settled in Adelaide where he worked as a mechanic for three years but moved to Sydney after a holiday and fell in with the wrong crowd.

He has not seen his family in Afghanistan since August.

Thamasi, who has been in custody since June last year, did not give evidence but in a letter expressed remorse.

He started drinking alcohol and taking drugs in 2016 and the addiction developed to a point the Blacktown man was spending $600 a week on ice, heroin and cannabis.

The reckless wounding charge carries a maximum penalty of seven years in jail.

He was sentenced to three years in jail dating from February 2021. He is eligible for parole on February 21, 2023.

The court ordered no further action would be taken against Thamasi for breaching community correction orders imposed on him for shoplifting, three counts of failing to appear in accordance with bail acknowledgment and possessing a schedule 9 substance. The order was entered shortly before the stabbing on February 18, 2021.

He has been in custody since June last year.

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