The closed-circuit cameras clearly captured the playful, jovial interaction between the drunk men and bar staff at Wollongong Tennis Club.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It was the last Wednesday in June, around 8.30pm, and housemates Oskar Calvi and Christopher Anderson were out on the town with friends.
The cameras show the men smiling, laughing and seemingly affable as the night unfolds.
It gives no hint of the horror that would unfold an hour later on a darkened footpath, leaving one man lucky to be alive and another facing years behind bars.
David Merxhushi and a friend were walking along Foley Street around 9.40pm when they were confronted by a drunk Calvi and Anderson, the later of whom directed some choice words at Mr Merxhushi’s friend.
Calvi pushed his mate down the footpath in a bid to diffuse the situation.
But then, for reasons that remain a mystery, Calvi turned aggressor, coming back towards the two men with a vengeance – and a glass bottle.
Anderson told Calvi’s District Court trial this week he heard the sound of glass smashing from Calvi's direction, moments before Calvi ran towards Mr Merxhushi and lashed out at him with a punch.
Calvi then stabbed Mr Merxhushi multiple times in the neck and left side of the head with a glass bottle, leaving him with cuts and a large wound that came within a centimetre of severing his carotid artery.
Mr Merxhushi required emergency surgery and 17 stitches. He was left with scar running from the bottom of his ear, down his neck.
Calvi admitted the stabbing in court but fought prosecution claims he had done it intending to cause Mr Merxhushi serious harm, saying he was too drunk at the time to form an intention.
The jury ultimately rejected Calvi’s excuse and found him guilty of the charge of wounding with intent – less than two hours after retiring to consider its verdict.
Calvi’s partner broke down in tears as Judge Andrew Haesler granted a prosecution application to remand Calvi in custody ahead of a sentence hearing next month.