Risdon prisoner sentenced for stabbing fellow inmate in the eye

A 19-year-old man who stabbed another Risdon prisoner twice in the eye with a makeshift weapon has been sentenced in the Launceston Supreme Court. LATEST FROM COURT >>

A 19-year-old man who stabbed another Risdon prisoner twice in the eye with a makeshift weapon and proceeded to punch him at least eight times has been sentenced in the Launceston Supreme Court.

Acting Justice Shane Marshall said it was an “extremely vicious attack on an unsuspecting victim.”

At about 12.10pm on March 18, 2020 Jordan John Lawrie retrieved a sharpened pen with a rusty nail attached, commonly known as a shiv, from the communal bathroom.

The victim had been lying on the bed when Lawrie entered his cell and stabbed him in the left eye.

He attempted to defend himself before Lawrie stabbed him a second time in the eye.

Lawrie dropped the instrument and punched him between 8 and 10 times, before leaving the cell and shutting the door.

The back of the victim’s head struck a wall causing it to bleed.

He sustained superficial damage to his cornea and required four stitches to the eyelid, but there was no long term damage to his vision.

The men were not known to each other and at the time of the offending Lawrie, a diagnosed schizophrenic, had been off his medication because it had been taken by other prisoners.

The court heard Lawrie had told his mother had been experiencing hallucinations with a female voice telling him to stab other prisoners and staff, which she passed on to prison authorities but it wasn’t acted on until after the offending took place.

Lawrie had pleaded guilty to the wounding and assault charges.

Acting Justice Marshall said he wasn’t in a position to second guess whether Lawrie was in a fit state to enter a plea.

For the wounding charge Lawrie received a three-year sentence of imprisonment backdated to November 26, 2020 with six months suspended as long as he does not commit an imprisonable offence within two years of his release.

Lawrie will not be eligible for parole until at least half the sentence is served.

He was given a nine month prison for the assault to be served concurrently with the wounding sentence.

The court heard his prior offending and his condition were among the factors taken into account in sentencing.