David Aaron Blanch on trial in Gympie court for unlawful wounding

The trial of a 48-year-old man charged over the alleged stabbing of a younger man in the head has come to a close after three days. Read the latest:

A 48-year-old man accused of stabbing a 22-year-old man in the head with a serrated bread knife has been found not guilty.

The jury returned a verdict in Gympie District Court after little more than an hour of deliberations.

David Aaron Blanch was acquitted after a three-day trial over the incident, which happened on December 16, 2020.

Craig Davidson was gashed across the head with a serrated butter knife brandished by Mr Blanch in the altercation.

It followed a fight earlier in the day after the 22-year-old Mr Davidson was hit by a cupboard falling downstairs of a Lawrence St unit complex at which the two men lived.

David Aaron Blanch, outside Gympie District Court on Friday, was found not guilty of unlawful wounding..

Mr Blanch’s barrister Amelia Loode argued throughout the trial it was self defence.

She pointed out there were a number of “inconsistencies” in Mr Davidson’s evidence, including that he initially told hospital staff he cut his head after falling off his skateboard.

Mr Davidson told the court on the opening day of the trial that, after consuming a number of “rums and apple ciders” and marijuana, he was walking upstairs to the unit he shared with his aunt when the cupboard fell on him, hitting him in the left shoulder.

David Blanch’s defence barrister argued the wounding had been self defence.

He said he was “pretty p----d off”, flew up the stairs and began throwing punches at Mr Blanch who was standing at the top.

Mr Blanch was knocked down in the fight.

The incident involving the knife happened about an hour later.

The trial was held over the days in Gympie District Court. The jury took little more than an hour to reach a verdict.

Mr Blanch told the court on Friday he was smoking on his front balcony following the earlier fight when Mr Davidson began yelling and swearing at him from a lower level of the three-storey complex.

He also said Mr Davidson then charged at him, and began punching him again before he saw a knife fly past his face and hit the wall next to his head.

Mr Blanche said he leant back into his unit and grabbed a bread knife from his kitchen to defend himself.

Originally published as David Aaron Blanch on trial in Gympie court for unlawful wounding