Benjamin Wilson sentenced for Stawell stabbing that left mate critically injured

A former abattoir labourer repeatedly stabbed his mate at a caravan park in Stawell after accusing him of having an affair with his girlfriend.

A man who repeatedly stabbed his mate during a meth-induced psychosis will spend at least five years behind bars.

Benjamin Wilson, 39, was sentenced in the Melbourne County Court for one charge of intentionally causing serious injury on Tuesday.

The court heard on the afternoon of the offence, on October 17, 2020, Wilson had been downing cans of Jack Daniels with the victim in his home at Stawell Caravan Park.

After about 90 minutes the conversation turned to Wilson’s suspicions the victim had been engaged in an affair with his girlfriend, which the victim denied.

When the victim stood up and turned his back, Wilson produced a large kitchen knife and stabbed him in the back four times.

The court heard the victim “cried out in pain” and turned around to face Wilson who continued to stab him as he fell to the ground.

The court heard Wilson then stood over the victim and asked: “Do you want to die”?

The victim responded no and pleaded with him to stop but Wilson stabbed him at least three more times in the torso before walking away.

The victim was able to drag himself from the ground and approach a neighbour for help.

His neighbour called Triple-0 and provided first aid until police and paramedics arrived.

The victim was placed in an induced coma, flown to The Alfred hospital and admitted to the intensive care unit in a critical condition.

The multiple stab wounds caused cuts to his artery and lungs and blood to pool in his chest and he required “lifesaving surgery” to close the wounds.

He also required surgery to remove a damaged section of his bowel and reconnect what remained. He was later released from hospital.

The court heard Wilson, a father of a young daughter, made full admissions to police about taking the knife from his home to the caravan park because he “wanted to hurt” the victim.

Chief Judge Peter Kidd said it was common knowledge that knives had “the capacity to inflict grave harm” and Wilson’s attack on the victim was “sustained”.

He took into consideration that Wilson, who has worked as a labourer in abattoirs and as a roof tiler, had a “significant criminal history” which included a conviction and jail term for defensive homicide, when he stabbed a man to death.

He also considered Wilson’s “complex mental health issues” and how his paranoid personality type was compounded by methamphetamine use, leading to a “persistent psychosis” that played into his unpredictable and violent behaviour.

Judge Kidd found the attack was triggered partly by jealousy but mostly by delusion as a result of his methamphetamine-induced psychosis.

“However in your case the onset of the psychosis at the time of the offending in question was fundamentally triggered by your choice to ingest methamphetamine, despite your knowledge and insight into the foreseeable consequences on your mental health.

“Your offending conduct is, in truth, attributable to voluntary drug choices made by you for which you should be held responsible.”

While noting he was “uncertain” about Wilson’s prospects of rehabilitation, he said he had shown genuine remorse and a desire to turn his life around.

“Should you come to grips with your drug abuse then you can still make something of your life,” he said.

Wilson was sentenced as a “serious violent offender” and ordered to spend eight years and six months in prison with a non-parole period of five years and six months.

His 633 days in pre-sentence detention were reckoned as time served.