Israel Colin Buggy loses appeal over jail term for stabbing boxer

A Gympie father’s failed bid to have his jail sentence reduced after stabbing Brophy’s Boxing Tent fighter Danny Hawkins has revealed fresh and grisly details about what exactly happened that day.

Israel Colin Buggy, 47, was jailed in April, 2024, after pleading guilty to grievous bodily harm in relation to the 2021 stabbing.He was handed a seven-year sentence and, as it was declared a serious violent offence, is required to serve 80 per cent of the term behind bars.

A Gympie father imprisoned for the daylight stabbing of boxer Danny Hawkins in his own front yard has had his appeal against his seven-year jail sentence thrown out.

Israel Colin Buggy, 47, was jailed in April, 2024, after pleading guilty to grievous bodily harm in relation to the 2021 stabbing.

He was handed a seven-year sentence and, as it was declared a serious violent offence, is required to serve 80 per cent of the term behind bars.

Buggy and four other young men, including his two sons, confronted Mr Hawkins at his family home in Parsons Road on September 18, 2021.

Mr Hawkins had been building a cubby house for his children in his front yard when the group, several of whom were armed, pulled up in a car and confronted him.

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Buggy was carrying a 15cm knife in his pocket, the Supreme Court appeal decision says.

Danny Hawkins recovers in hospital after the stabbing attack.

During the ensuing fight he stabbed Mr Hawkins three times, leaving him with life-threatening injuries.

He was rushed first to Gympie Hospital for treatment and a blood transfusion, and then to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital for surgery.

The two families had known each other for several years.

The published decision says the stabbing was sparked by a chance meeting a week earlier in which “(Mr Hawkins’) wife thought she saw (Buggy’s) wife at a local shopping centre and formed the view that she looked pregnant”.

Things escalated when Mr Hawkins asked Buggy if this was the case.

One of Buggy’s sons was carrying a “sword in one hand and a machete in the other”.

The attack left he 48-year-old Mr Hawkins with life threatening injuries after he was stabbed three times by Buggy.

Israel Colin Buggy’s (pictured) attack on Danny Hawkins was caught on camera by family members, and played to the courts during proceedings.

Buggy appealed his sentence in April 2024, claiming it was “manifestly excessive”.

He argued the length of the sentence should have precluded its further declaration as a serious violent offence.

“If a serious violent offence declaration was to be made, the head sentence should have been no longer than six years,” the published Supreme Court documents say.

Justice Sean Cooper found the sentencing judge’s description of Buggy’s actions as “‘unprovoked, gratuitous and unnecessary’” was “plainly correct”.

“The sentence of seven years’ imprisonment with a serious violent offence declaration is not manifestly excessive,” Justice Cooper said.

“It was warranted in the circumstances of this case.”

He denied Buggy leave to appeal the sentence.

Originally published as Israel Colin Buggy loses appeal over jail term for stabbing boxer