Cambridge Park: Branko Ostojic pleads guilty to reckless wounding

A grizzly old man, who has lost a lung to pneumonia and his left thumb to a minor explosion, plunged a knife into his friend’s hand after a petty argument.

An elderly man who stabbed his mate in the wrist after an argument in western Sydney has narrowly avoided going to jail.

Branko Ostojic, 68, of Cambridge Park, pleaded guilty to a charge of reckless wounding before Magistrate Georgia Knight in Penrith Local Court on Tuesday.

According to court documents, Ostojic and his friend Karl Knoll were on the front veranda of his home drinking alcohol and smoking cannabis when an argument began at about 9pm on September 24 last year.

The argument was over a lighter Mr Knoll was using, at which point he placed it down on the table the two were drinking at.

Ostojic then grabbed a nearby knife and plunged it into Mr Knoll’s right wrist, prompting him to say “What the hell did you do that for?”

Branko Ostojic stabbed his friend Karl Knoll in the right wrist over an argument relating to a lighter. Picture: Generic

Ostojic then called triple-0, and told the operator “well, a friend of mine went to stab me in my hand and I said ‘don’t do that’, so I put a little bit of a penknife cut in his hand”.

As a result of the stabbing, Mr Knoll suffered four severed tendons and required 15 stitches.

Six days later, Mr Knoll called Ostojic to discuss the stabbing, to which Ostojic replied “That’s what you get for going through my drawers”.

Mr Knoll has denied going through Ostojic’s drawers, or taking anything from his premises.

In court, Ostojic’s lawyer told Magistrate Knight he had lost a lung to pneumonia about 18 years ago, and lost his left thumb to a minor explosion at the age of 21.

She also said Ostojic had gone through a full hip replacement in 2018, and still had problems with his mobility.

She said while Ostojic had a reasonably long criminal record, he had large gaps and didn’t have a substantial record of violence.

Karl Knoll was taken to hospital where he received 15 stitches after the incident in Cambridge Park. Picture: Generic

Magistrate Knight said she didn’t accept Ostojic’s claims of remorse, and said he was a “low to medium risk” of reoffending.

“Imprisonment is the only appropriate penalty,” she said.

“It’s an unprovoked attack with a knife on a friend – it’s not at the higher end of serious, but it’s still serious.”

Ostojic was sentenced to a 14-month intensive corrections order and must abstain from any drugs.

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