Severely sleep deprived, paranoid and high on ice, Luke Krajnovic did not hesitate to stab a mate in the chest in a momentary fit of rage.
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He was angry the man told a mutual friend not to lend him $50, so much so that he beat him with the butt of a shotgun before puncturing his chest with a small knife.
The frenzied attack occurred in the early hours of April 2 as the group of friends, who had been socialising all night, spoke in the driveway of Krajnovic’s Keerong Avenue home in Russell Vale.
At the time the 26-year-old was high on ice and had not slept for more than a week.
‘‘I was losing my mind,’’ Krajnovic told Sutherland District Court on Monday.
During Krajnovic’s sentencing hearing, the court heard he had self-medicated with ice because he had become anxious and paranoid after he was shot in the back by an unknown person at a party three months earlier.
Krajnovic had been hanging out with three friends at home on April 1 when he pulled a .22-calibre sawn-off shotgun out from under his bed to show them.
The group piled into one of the witnesses’ cars and drove to a secluded area in Darkes Forest to fire four or five rounds, before returning to Krajnovic’s home.
Before the evening was out he would turn on his mates, using the butt of his shotgun to beat the bonnet of the car two of them sat in, before stabbing the driver.
The wound bled profusely and the man was taken to hospital for stitches.
Sentencing the Russell Vale man, Judge Paul Conlon said Krajnovic was a serious danger to the community while under the influence of drugs.
‘‘It’s clear that this was a violent and unprovoked attack where the victim was confronted by an obviously out-of-control offender who had the firearm in his hand and was using the butt of it to attack the car,’’ Judge Conlon said.
Defence solicitor Nerissa Keay told the court Krajnovic acknowledged his problem and was seeking placement in an intensive drug rehabilitation program.
The court heard Krajnovic had suffered an abusive and dysfunctional upbringing, which contributed to his drug addiction.
Judge Conlon sentenced him to 15 months’ jail, to be eligible for release in November 2015.