Former horse trainer Tommy Hughes Jr stabbed mate and landlord fearing they would ‘gas’ him

High-profile racing figure Tommy Hughes Jr trapped his longtime friend in a car and said “I’m going to kill you, you f — ing dog” before repeatedly stabbing him in the neck and stomach.

Tommy Hughes Jnr (right) stabbed his friend and landlord during a ‘psychotic episode’.

A horse trainer who stabbed his mate and landlord during a psychotic episode believed they were plotting to ‘gas and poison’ him, a court has heard.

Tommy Hughes Jr, 56, pleaded guilty in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday after stabbing his longtime friend Simon Gray and landlord Jennifer King in separate incidents in Ascot Vale on August 8, 2022.

Hughes was experiencing hallucinations when he trapped Mr Gray in his car and told him: “I’m going to kill you, you f — ing dog”, the court heard.

He then pulled out a kitchen knife and stabbed his mate in the neck and in the stomach multiple times.

Hughes pleaded guilty to six charges following the two stabbings.

On the same day, Hughes stabbed Ms King at her home – where he was also living at the time – in the thigh and the chest.

Emergency services arrived to find Ms King in the laundry with blood trails across the house and in the backyard.

Both victims were rushed to hospital where they were treated for their injuries. It is unknown who was stabbed first.

Hughes was arrested the following day after crashing his car into a tree on Kensington Rd while attempting to evade police.

The former Flemington-based horse trainer, who is the son of racing industry legend Tommy Hughes Sr, appeared via video link from prison.

His lawyer, Merran Shanahan, said the stabbings occurred at the “lowest ebb” of Hughes’ adult life.

The well-known racing figure had lost his business after suffering spinal and knee injuries at Moonee Valley racetrack.

He was struggling with a cocaine addiction and his 15-year relationship had ended due to infidelity, leaving him without contact with his two teenage sons.

Hughes’ lawyer said the racing figure was at the ‘lowest ebb’ of his life when he attacked his mate and landlord. Picture: Colleen Petch

He had also incurred serious debts, gambling away “a couple of thousand dollars four to six times a week”, Ms Shanahan said, which led him to be evicted from his rental after falling behind in payments.

Hughes’ fall from grace had resulted in “a likely psychotic episode with delusions regarding his roommates gassing and poisoning him”, Ms Shanahan said.

After weeks of “delusions (and) hallucinations” his symptoms had been resolved following a combination of antidepressants and antipsychotic medication, and he was “currently mentally well”, she told Magistrate Jarrod Williams.

Hughes pleaded guilty to six charges, including two charges of recklessly engaging in conduct by stabbing, two relating to the police chase, one for threatening to kill and one for unlawful imprisonment. Four other charges, including intentionally causing injury and unlawful assault, were dropped.

Mr Williams, who noted the case was in the “upper end of matters” usually heard by the court, ordered Hughes be assessed for a corrections order.