Peter Jez: Albion man stabs victim five times in 'violent outburst’

An Albion labourer and carpenter stabbed his victim multiple times, leaving him with “permanent injuries”, a Ballarat court heard.

A tradie who entered a woman’s home while she was out and stabbed her boyfriend five times when she returned has been sentenced in Ballarat court.

Peter Jez, a 32-year-old labourer and carpenter now living in Albion, was sentenced in the Ballarat County Court on Friday.

During an earlier hearing, it was said that on the evening of December 16, 2019, Jez entered the home of a woman he knew while she was not present.

The woman returned home with her boyfriend, who carried with him a baseball bat.

When the boyfriend entered and found Jez there, he struck him to the head with the bat, and the two began fighting.

Jez tried to drag the man from the house, kicking him in the ribs when he resisted.

“We’re supposed to be together,” Jez said to the woman when she pushed him off the other man, and tried to hug and kiss her.

“No, we’re done,” the woman told him.

Jez picked up a knife from the kitchen and replied: “Watch what I’ll do now, then.”

He began chasing the boyfriend around the kitchen island, grabbing the woman by her throat as she tried to stop him.

She managed to pin Jez down, and though he moved the knife towards her hand, he stopped short of cutting her.

Jez, freeing himself, made for the boyfriend again and stabbed him in the back of the neck.

Falling on top of him, he stabbed the man five times, wounding him in the neck, left thorax, right flank, and twice in the left thigh.

When Jez stood up, he froze, said, “What the f--k?”, and began trying to wipe up the blood spilling onto the floor with a towel.

He went to the kitchen sink to wash his hands, and before leaving told the woman, “I’m going away for this.”

Police found Jez nearby with a towel to his head.

He was taken to hospital and treated for head injuries before being interviewed.

The male stab victim ended up at the Alfred Hospital with a fracture of his C3 vertebra, spinal cord contusion, and internal bleeding between his colon and abdominal wall – wounds that caused, the court heard, “permanent disabilities”.

He received surgery and spent time recovering in intensive care.

Jez spoke during the hearing, saying he was ashamed of his actions.

“I don’t really have a good memory of what happened that night, but I do have flashbacks of what happened, and I’m ashamed to even be in court today.

“I wish I could take it all back.”

He said of his victim that it would be “very hard for him” and said he had worked to improve his mental health.

“I’ve had so much time to reflect and being able to be there for my kids now, and see a future … there’s no way I’d jeopardise that,” Jez said.

Jez’s defence lawyer said his client’s childhood was “plagued with catastrophes” and the December evening was a “dreadfully violent outburst”.

Jez pleaded guilty to common assault, causing serious injury recklessly, and other charges.

On Friday, he was sentenced to five years and three months' imprisonment with a non-parole period of three years and four months.