Josef Molfese’s appeal denied over stabbing murder of Ricky Trinh in South Melbourne
A drug addict jailed for fatally slashing a man’s throat on a busy South Melbourne street now wants his murder conviction overturned, giving the appeals court a bizarre reason why it wasn’t his fault.
Inner South
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A drug addict serving at least 18 years for fatally slashing a man’s throat on a busy South Melbourne street has claimed the victim’s girlfriend ultimately caused the fatal knife wound.
Josef Molfese was in February sentenced over the brutal murder of drug dealer Tung “Ricky” Trinh on March 18, 2016.
JOSEF MOLFESE JAILED FOR MURDER OF TUNG ‘RICKY’ TRINH
SHOCK OVER SOUTH MELBOURNE STABBING
Mr Trinh and his girlfriend, Natasha Lamb, had gone to the Coles store on Clarendon St to buy ice cream when Molfese approached him from behind and used a curve blade to slit the 47-year-old’s throat “from one side to the other”.
Molfese, 29, had planned to rob Mr Trinh, a notorious drug dealer in the area, initially demanding he hand over drugs before slitting his throat “on the spur of the moment”, almost completely severing the carotid artery.
But Molfese this month told the Court of Appeal Trinh’s girlfriend, Natasha Lamb, caused the deadly 11cm gash when she rushed to help her lover, pushing Molfese with the “force necessary to drive the knife through Trinh’s neck”.
Ms Lamb vehemently denied pushing or even touching Molfese, telling the court she “tried to grab the knife but was when it cut my finger I pulled away”.
A defence lawyer for Mr Molfese said Mr Trinh’s untimely death was “completely consistent with an armed robbery gone wrong”, and his murder conviction should be overturned.
“An intentional killing just does not fit,” the lawyer said.
Carly Simms-Parsons, a childhood friend of Mr Trinh’s who had gone with Molfese on the ill-fated heroin scoring mission, told the court she had not witnessed the incident but had met Molfese at Bells Hotel shortly after where he was cleaning blood off himself with baby wipes.
In a statement to police, Ms Simms-Parsons said Molfese had told her “his missus pushed me”.
Supreme Court Justices Chris Maxwell, Mark Weinberg and Peter Almond struck out Molfese’s bid for an appeal, saying Ms Simms-Parsons’ evidence was “never going to carry much weight with the jury since both sides characterised her as a habitual liar” and “there was no evidence from Ms Lamb suggesting she had pushed (Molfese)”.
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