Zac James Blacker: Nowra man locked up after love triangle stabbing

A man who was tracked down by the police dog unit after officers arrived at a crime scene with “pools of blood” has learnt his fate. Read what happened.

A young Nowra man who started smoking cannabis as a six-year-old has been dealt a prison sentence after repeatedly stabbing a love rival in a Warrawong apartment earlier this year.

Zac James Blacker, 22, fronted Wollongong District Court on Thursday following a previous guilty plea to reckless wounding - a crime that carries a maximum of seven years in jail.

The “extraordinary” altercation broke out in an apartment on Cowper St, Warrawong, at about 12.40am on Thursday, February 3, when Blacker stabbed his girlfriend‘s ex, Jay McDonald, six times - including three jabs in the torso and three strikes in the upper left leg.

Court documents said police arrived to find “pools of blood” at the scene with the Dog Unit used to track down Blacker hiding in bushes nearby.

After being arrested, Blacker told police he intended to stab McDonald once, describing the following five as “a bit excessive”.

McDonald received first aid from the unit owner as well as the woman involved in the love triangle before paramedics arrived and conveyed him to Wollongong Hospital.

McDonald, 27, who the court heard is now back with the woman after parting with Blacker, was treated by two others before paramedics arrived and conveyed him to Wollongong Hospital.

In court on Thursday, Judge Julia Baly described Blacker as having an “extraordinarily high level of disadvantage growing up” in Nowra.

Blacker was said to have an “on and off relationship” with his parents, who supported him in court, with his father ”cycling in and out of prison”.

The stabbings took place on Cowper St in Warrawong.

The court heard one of Blacker‘s older sisters would steal cannabis from their father, which he started using at the mere age of six.

The exposure to substance abuse led Blacker to become addicted to cannabis before using speed as a seven-year-old and ice by age 10.

Blacker was asked in the witness box on Thursday why he was in possession of a knife on the night in question.

“I‘ve always been picked on since I was a kid, so I have it to try and protect myself,” he said.

Blacker has been in prison since the day of the stabbing, and he told the court about his horrid time being in “protection” with other inmates throwing hot water and urine on him because they ”assume we‘re (him and other inmates in protection) kiddy fiddlers and stuff like that”.

Nowra man Zac James Blacker was sentenced on Thursday. Picture: Facebook

Judge Baly took these factors, as well as Blacker being on parole for an offence involving an axe in 2020, into account when handing down her sentence of two years and five months with a non-parole period of one year and four months.

“Clearly, Mr Blacker has an issue with his control,” the judge said.

“He reacts in an extraordinary manner... I am extremely guarded about his prospects of rehabilitation.

“These (the stabbings) were not in my view simply pokes and the number of separate stabbings is of concern. There was a high degree of violence involved.”

With time already served, Blacker will be eligible for parole in June, 2023.