Thug Raphel Jawahiri jailed for ruthless, unprovoked Flemington attack on stranger
A savage thug and his gutless cronies almost killed a man during a ruthless and unprovoked attack at Flemington where the victim was left with severed fingers, exposed organs and heavy blood loss after he was hacked at with a meat cleaver and a knife.
North West
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A savage meat cleaver wielding thug and his gutless cronies almost killed a man during a ruthless and unprovoked attack.
Raphel Jawahiri, 21, was sentenced in the County Court on Friday to a minimum five years’ and six months’ jail after pleading guilty to intentionally cause serious injury.
Jawahiri attacked his victim after the pair crossed paths at a Flemington 7-Eleven just after 11pm on October 25 last year.
Jawahiri, armed with a meat-cleaver, and the two others, one armed with a knife, “lay in wait” then ambushed the victim just metres from his Racecourse Rd home.
“Remember me ya f***ing dog c***?,” the knife-wielding menace yelled at the victim.
The brutes then pulled the victim to the ground where they punched, kicked, stabbed and hacked the defenceless man.
The victim tried protect himself but felt his hands get “cut first” then his head.
Jawahiri was captured on CCTV hacking the victim — who later said he was in shock and scared he would be killed — at least five times with the meat cleaver.
One of the thug’s said: “He’s done, leg it, let’s go.”
CCTV captured Jawahiri wiping the blood from his meat cleaver and placing the weapon in his bag.
The heavily bleeding victim stumbled to his apartment where he collapsed.
The man’s dad phoned 000.
Police arrived at the apartment block and “observed a pool of blood at the front entrance”.
Paramedics noted multiple “penetrating stab wounds” to the victim’s torso a deep wound on his back which exposed the man’s muscles and organs.
The victim was rushed to the Royal Melbourne Hospital where he received “urgent lifesaving intervention”.
The man had lost 1.5 litres of blood from his multiple stab wounds and injuries to his chest, lungs, head, torso and limbs.
The man also required emergency head surgery to stop “severe bleeding”.
The victim also required reconstructive ear surgery and emergency surgery to save several partially amputated fingers and tendons.
Police linked Jawahiri by matching his clothes and a Subaru driven to the 7-Eleven prior to the attack.
Jawahiri was arrested at his Clifton Hill home on October 31.
Investigators seized his phone and several items of clothing including some with blood stains.
Jawahiri denied being in Flemington the night of the attack but changed his tune after shown CCTV stills.
He admitted getting into a fight with the victim and hitting him twice with the meat cleaver.
He explained he “did what I had to do” for “personal reasons” but now has “regret”.
The victim later said Jawahiri looked at him in a strange way while the pair crossed paths at the 7-Eleven but nothing was said.
Judge Michael Tinney said it was a “ruthless” and “unprovoked” and was only “luck” Jawahiri wasn’t facing a sentence “well into double figures”.
“This was outrageous offending carried out in a public place you should be far more ashamed of yourself than I sense that you are,’’ Judge Tinney said.
“This was a quite startling offence committed upon a totally innocent man in a public place, he’d done nothing to you.”
Judge Tinney also said he found it “disturbing” Jawahiri wasn’t “fully remorseful”.
Jawahiri, who spent 302 days in custody, was jailed for a maximum eight years and six months.
A second man is awaiting trial for the attack while a third alleged offender is yet to be identified.
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