Sean Sonnet: Former associate of gangland boss Carl Williams jailed over park knife attack

A former associate of murdered gangland boss Carl Williams has been jailed after pleading guilty to the daylight stabbing of a stranger.

A former associate of murdered Melbourne gangland boss Carl Williams has been jailed after a shocking daylight knife attack on a stranger.

Sean Sonnet, 55, appeared in the Frankston Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, delivering an enthusiastic thumbs-up and pleading guilty after receiving a sentence indication of 15 months imprisonment.

The court was told Sonnet was arrested in East Melbourne on August 31 last year, shortly after plunging a 30cm kitchen knife into the chest of a 27-year-old man and fleeing the scene.

Sean Sonnet (left) pictured with Gavin Preston. Picture: Supplied.

Prosecutor Eli Fryar said the former Williams associate, who was jailed alongside the figure for conspiracy to murder over a 2004 planned hit, had been staying at a unit 150m from Powlett Reserve where the attack occurred.

Sonnet was approached by the victim’s girlfriend shortly after 9am who asked for a cigarette, responding he didn’t have any.

This promoted an argument with the man, who said he didn’t believe Sonnet, before saying: “Walk on, I’ve dealt with bigger and better looking”, Mr Fryar said.

“Yeah, come on then,” Sonnet retorted.

After more words were exchanged and blows traded, Sonnet pulled out a kitchen knife and “lunged forward”, stabbing the man in the chest after he fell to the ground.

He fled the scene but was arrested less than half an hour later after police spotted him on the street.

Sonnet was convicted alongside gangland boos Carl Williams (left) for a failed hit attempt. Picture: Supplied/ Facebook.

His lawyer, Emma Turnbull, told the court Sonnet had been on bail at the time after robbing an Aldi at knifepoint a year earlier, and had relapsed into drug use.

She said her client had been doing well, relative for him, while on bail, but had fallen back into bad habits.

“We’re dealing with an institutionalised man, we’re dealing with a man that's all too comfortable living in jail,” she said.

Sonnet was jailed for 15 months by Magistrate Tony Burns on charges of intentionally causing injury, resisting police, possession of prohibited weapons and drug possession.

Mr Burns directed that three months of the sentence be served on top of his existing sentence for the robbery, but with time served, only nine days would be added to his non-parole period.

Williams was killed by a fellow inmate while at Barwon Prison in April 2010 aged 39.

Originally published as Sean Sonnet: Former associate of gangland boss Carl Williams jailed over park knife attack