A man who previously spent a lengthy period in jail for fatally stabbing another man in self defence is in custody again after a planned stabbing attack that played out in a drunken jealous rage.
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Benjamin James Wilson, 39, pleaded guilty to intentionally causing serious injury, following the incident in Stawell, at the County Court in Ballarat on Tuesday, appearing via video link from custody.
Crown prosecutor Richard Pirrie said Wilson became paranoid his partner, who was pregnant at the time, and the victim, who he had been introduced to through mutual friends, were having an affair.
Defence barrister Adam Chernok said Wilson experienced paranoid psychotic symptoms which were exacerbated by methylamphetamine and alcohol abuse.
He said Wilson had 'delusional beliefs' including that he was being drugged or poisoned during the night and assaulted.
The court heard Wilson drove to the victim's accommodation at Stawell Caravan Park on the afternoon of October 17, 2020 and they drank alcohol together out the front of the victim's cabin for an hour and a half.
"The topic of conversation turned to the offender's partner and his suspicion of the affair," Mr Pirrie said.
The court heard the victim denied having an affair, but Wilson pulled out a large kitchen knife and stabbed the victim in the back four times.
The use of intoxicants exacerbates his paranoid symptoms.
- Adam Chernock, defence barrister
The victim cried out in pain and turned around to look at Wilson who stabbed him again, causing the victim to fall to the ground.
Wilson said 'do you want to die?' and the victim said 'no please, Ben stop', but Wilson stabbed him again in the torso area.
A neighbour in the cabin next door heard the victim wheezing as Wilson struck him with the knife and watched Wilson continue to stab him.
The witness said he saw Wilson deliver the final stab with the 'full force of his body', appearing 'completely calm with a face of pure satisfaction'.
Wilson walked to his car and left the scene. The victim managed to get up off the ground and walk to the cabin next door.
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The witness called triple zero and lay on the victim to put pressure on the wounds and minimise blood loss, particularly from a large chest wound.
Police and paramedics arrived and put the victim into an induced coma to transport him via helicopter to the intensive care unit at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne.
Mr Pirrie said the victim would have died without the immediate treatment from the witness, emergency services and the medical team at The Alfred.
The victim required life-saving surgery to close the stab wounds and the laceration of his lungs and remove a damaged section of his bowel.
Wilson was later arrested in a paddock next to his home and admitted to stabbing the victim.
Mr Pirrie said Wilson would be sentenced as a serious violent offender, given his prior conviction of defensive homicide in 2009 for which he was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment.
He said the offending was serious, sustained and pre-planned - Wilson brought the knife with him to the victim's cabin.
Mr Chernok said Wilson started abusing drugs and alcohol from the age of 14 and the combination of methamphetamine and alcohol led to his psychotic state at the time of the offending.
"The use of intoxicants exacerbates his paranoid symptoms," he said.
Mr Chernok said Wilson also suffered depression, but had the support of his family and would be motivated upon his release to rehabilitate for his daughter who was born six weeks before the stabbing.
He will require regular contact with mental health services upon his release and 'careful management in the community', a psychologist report said.
"He is a mentally unwell person that needs to be carefully monitored and assessed and ongoing treatment needs to be afforded to him," Mr Chernok said.
Wilson will return to court at a later date for sentencing.
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