Man jailed for stabbing sleeping father in face after following teenage son home
A father who woke to help his terrified teenage son was stabbed in the face, chest and stomach by an armed attacker fuelled by alcohol.
A sleeping father was stabbed in the face, stomach and chest after a knife-wielding man loaded on “rum and beer” followed his teenage son home asking for a fight.
Aurukun man Ian Barry Koo-Oila, 33, appeared in the Cairns District Court charged with threatening violence at night, causing a malicious act, going armed to cause fear, obstructing police and carrying a knife in a public place following a “traumatic” night of booze filled violence.
A 15 year old boy was walking home early in the morning last July when Mr Koo-Oila called out, “you want to fight me” Crown Prosecutor Peter Feeney told the court.
“He ran into a house where the father of the boy lived, the father was woken up … went out to the front of his house and was assaulted by this man,” he said.
“He first used the knife to make an injury to the stomach, then he was disabled by a stab to the chest and then tried move away or feel to the ground where he was stabbed in the cheek.”
After leaving the scene on foot Mr Koo-Oila was later tracked down to a dirt road where he was found with a knife and arrow on his persons.
The court heard according to a 2008 Domestic and Related homicide report produced by the Australian Institute of Criminology extreme violence had become a “recognised part” of Aurukun culture with reprisals common place across the community.
Defence barrister Tim Grau said tensions had remained high between rival clans since the murder of Mr Koo-Oila’s uncle on New Year's Day in 2020.
“Significant violence between the various clans at the top and bottom parts of Aurukun existed … that unrest has continued to be existence in the community,” he said.
“In that report it talks about, the issue of payback, that is if someone in your family is offended against by somebody else and you don’t respond in kind or appropriately, then you are seen to be dishonouring your own family
“I’m not placing it here as a way of excusing behaviour, but in the context of the environment.”
The father of two had an extensive criminal history that included property offences, a 2015 assault causing bodily harm and a 2022 serious assault of a police officer.
Despite acknowledged clan tensions, Judge Deborah Richards said the victim was doing nothing but sleeping in his home at the time of the attack.
“There was no provocation,” she said.
“The person that you stabbed had been asleep in bed minding his own business, when his son sought help from him, waking him up, and you stabbed him in the chest and in the face.
“I know you grew up with violence being modelled to you but you are now 34, you have to take responsibility for how you live your life.”
Mr Koo-oila was sentenced to six years in prison with a release date of July 30, 2026 after serving 436 days in pre sentence custody.
Originally published as Man jailed for stabbing sleeping father in face after following teenage son home
