Tradie Rian Farrell stabbed friend Liam Cahill through the heart at Docklands party: court

A tradie killed his mate at a high-rise party in Melbourne in what’s been described in court today as a ‘despicable act of betrayal’.

A Melbourne tradie plunged a kitchen knife into his best mate’s heart during a brawl at a party then climbed down the side of a building in a bid to escape, a court has heard.

Rian Farrell on Tuesday pleaded guilty to manslaughter over the killing of his childhood friend Liam Cahill during a fight at a Docklands party in May 2020.

The Supreme Court of Victoria pre-sentence hearing heard Farrell, 23, asked Mr Cahill to leave the birthday party following an earlier clash with another guest but he refused.

“You’re my best friend, why do I have to leave?” Mr Cahill asked his friend in the minutes before the fatal attack.

Rian Farrell, 22, admitted to the manslaughter of his best friend in a Docklands apartment building after a fight.

A fight erupted between the men and they ended up in the kitchen, where Farrell grabbed a kitchen knife, the court heard.

The court heard he plunged the weapon into his friend’s chest, which pierced Mr Cahill’s heart and lung.

Cahill was able to stumble out of the apartment before he collapsed and died in the corridor.

Farrell called two friends and told them what happened before he went into the hallway.

“Please don’t die. It can’t be true,” Farrell said while standing near the body.

The court heard he went onto the balcony, and climbed down two stories and broke into another apartment before making his way out of the building.

But police caught him outside the building.

He told the officers at the scene he didn’t mean it and wasn’t sure what happened.

“My life’s f**ked,” he said after the incident.

Apprentice Liam Cahill was stabbed through the heart by his best mate Rian Farrell.

“I’m going to jail, please sir can I have a cigarette?” he asked.

“This isn’t happening.”

Defence lawyer Peter Matthews told the court that Farrell saw Mr Cahill reach for a bottle in the kitchen before his client picked up the knife in the “heat of the moment”.

But though he admitted to manslaughter the stabbing was an act of “excessive self-defence”, Mr Matthews said.

Since the fatal attack Farrell suffered from nightmares, he told the court.

“He can hear his friend screaming and see blood on the walls,” Mr Matthews said of his client.

The victim’s father Timothy Cahill said he could never forgive his son’s killer or understand what happened.

“It was a despicable act of betrayal,” he told the court.

The stabbing wasn’t misadventure but instead a “deliberate act of violence”, the father told the court.

Farrell was initially charged with murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter and has spent more than a year in custody.

He will be sentenced at a later date.