A Sunshine man who stabbed a friend in the scrotum at a party in 2016 has been sentenced in the County Court to nine years jail.
John Makur, 29, was convicted in February of one charge of intentionally causing serious injury, following an incident at a house in Ascot Vale that led to his friend being admitted to hospital with life-threatening wounds.
The court heard that Makur was at a party at Akuien Deng’s house in August 2016. Makur was asleep when Mr Deng, who is disabled and only has one leg, called a mutual friend to come and help him clean the house.
When Valentino Arop arrived, the house was filthy with vomit on the floor and there were a number of people still drinking.
As he started to clean the house Mr Arop asked guests, including Makur, to go home.
The court heard Makur left, but returned to the house 20 minutes later.
Makur spoke to Mr Arop at the door and asked him to go outside. When he refused Makur produced a large kitchen knife from behind his back and stabbed Mr Arop in the scrotum and upper thigh.
The court heard that Mr Arop was forced to sit down in a chair while Makur threatened to kill him and tried to stab him again.
Mr Arop received cuts to his hands and forearms while trying to subdue Makur.
Others in the house were able to drag Makur away. He fled before police and ambulance arrived.
Mr Arop was taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital and underwent surgery. He had sustained deep cuts to his inner thighs
and groin, and the femoral artery had a hole in it.
The medical evidence presented to the court stated that the injury required urgent treatment and Mr Arop would have bled out without it.
A wound in his left forearm still causes Mr Arop pain.
The court heard that Makur emigrated to Australia in 2005 after spending several years in a refugee camp in Kenya.
He completed high school and the first year of a TAFE course.
He was the victim of a serious assault in 2009 which left him with a head injury, and his drinking and cannabis use increased following the assault. The court heard Makur was heavily intoxicated on the day of the assault.
Judge Rachelle Lewitan said the crime was in the upper end of the range for this offence, and had a lasting impact on Mr Arop.
“The crime was not spontaneous,” Judge Lewitan said.
“You had the knife with you when you knocked on the door.
“It was unprovoked. The complainant did not do anything to specifically upset you other than asking you to leave.
“Although it did not last for very long, your crime did have two parts to it and you did not leave after the initial stabbing.
“The victim impact statement indicates the profound effect of your crime on the victim.”
Makur was sentenced to nine years in jail, with a non-parole period of six years.
