GRcade

An Australian man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the killing of a 60-year-old homeless man outside a Sydney pub in December 2018.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Christian Hargrave-McKey, 30, had been drinking with a friend at the Nelson Hotel in Bondi Junction on December 22 when they went to get food at a nearby KFC.

On the way back, Hargrave-McKey ran into Mark Thomas, who had also been imbibing at the Nelson Hotel. The pair got into an argument on the sidewalk that quickly escalated into violence, with the two men shoving and shouting at each other.

A bystander attempted to intervene, but Hargrave-McKey shooed her away when he saw Thomas rooting around in his backpack, telling her, "The man is trying to kill you," according to News 7.

At that point, Thomas reached into his satchel and pulled out an 8-inch knife, which he removed from its packaging. He then threatened the other man with it.

Hargrave-McKey said, "Go on, f---ing stab me, then," and Thomas complied, driving the blade into Hargrave-McKey's abdomen, but the impact caused him to release the weapon.

Hargrave-McKey then pulled the knife out of his midsection and attacked Thomas with it, stabbing him 11 times in the back and chest, going through his rib cage and piercing his heart.

Security cameras captured the incident, which was shared by News 7.

Hargrave-McKey was found lying in a bed of plants by the side of the road. Police took him to the hospital, where he had his gall bladder removed. His wound was so serious that social workers were asked to help manage potential end of life care, but he managed to make a full recovery.

Thomas was not so lucky. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 8:29 p.m. after paramedics could not stabilize him. Investigators found that some of the wounds on his arms likely came from his attempt to defend himself.

While in the hospital, Hargrave-McKey told police, "I'm so disappointed in myself. I just found out what I did. I'm so sorry. That poor bloke."

After Hargrave-McKey was discharged on January 3, he was immediately arrested and taken to jail.

He was in court on Tuesday, where he entered a plea of manslaughter on the basis of extreme provocation. His next court appearance is November 8, where an initial sentencing date will be determined.

Rightey wrote:If someone tried to stab me to death, I don't think I would really be all there when defending myself. I mean, we're not really being given a lot of information here so we don't know how long the fight lasted, but 11 stab wounds could easily be inflicted on someone in a very short amount of time.

Somebody Else's Problem wrote:I think if you stab somebody 11 times, regardless of circumstances, it's a little excessive.

Moggy wrote:

Somebody Else's Problem wrote:I think if you stab somebody 11 times, regardless of circumstances, it's a little excessive.

Yeah 11 times goes beyond self-defence. The guy could argue that he temporarily lost his mind after being stabbed, but it'd still be manslaughter.

There was a case over here where a farmer (Tony Martin) shot a burglar and was then arrested and jailed. People were up in arms (not literally ) as they felt the farmer was defending himself or that the burglars had it coming. But the law found him guilty because he shot the burglar in the back as the burglar was running away, which destroyed the idea it was self defence.

Return_of_the_STAR wrote:Under uk law (I don’t know the Australian laws) he would have gone too far to be acquitted under self defence. The difficulty is that it’s very difficult to get into the mindset of those involved at the time of the incident. I would find it very hard to remain controlled in that situation. Self defence is all about doing what’s necessary to neutralise the threat. If someone has attacked you with a knife, killing them could be justified but only if you had no other choice. From the sounds of the description of the incident he went too far under our law.

Somebody Else's Problem wrote:I think if you stab somebody 11 times, regardless of circumstances, it's a little excessive.