Two Illawarra friends who set upon a man in a drug deal turned stitch-up have confessed to their crimes in court.
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Kolby Langlo was repeatedly stabbed during a frenzied attack outside his Kemblawarra home on the morning of August 24 last year, leaving him with puncture wounds to his chest, lower neck, forearm and knee.
Court documents said Langlo had contacted Dale McWaters on Facebook Messenger earlier that morning seeking to buy drugs. The pair had arranged for McWaters to deliver the goods to Langlo’s house on Tom Brown Parade.
McWaters arrived in a two-door Hyundai Accent being driven by a female and waited for Langlo to climb into the backseat. Moments later, a black Holden Astra pulled up at the house and the co-offender, Carl Lawrence hoped out of the vehicle.
Langlo, who had previously had a dispute with Lawrence over a stolen phone, immediately suspected he was about to be ambushed and threw two punches at McWaters, who be this time was holding a 15cm-long knife in his hand.
Langlo then attempted to crawl over the top of McWaters to exit through the open passenger side window. McWaters stabbed him seven times to the body as Langlo scrambled to get out.
Once outside the vehicle, Langlo was was grabbed by Lawrence who repeatedly punched him in the face.
Langlo eventually managed to break free from Lawrence and run back to his house, where he yelled out to his mother and partner before grabbing a machete and chasing after the disappearing vehicles.
He was then taken to Wollongong Hospital for treatment.
Police arrested McWaters on August 27, however Lawrence wasn’t arrested until a month later on September 23 after officers viewed CCTV footage that put him and McWaters at the same house on the morning of the stabbing.
Both men were charged with wounding offences and remanded in custody.
They denied the allegations for almost a year and had been due to stand trial in Wollongong District Court last week, however, lawyers for both men struck a last-minute deal with prosecutors that saw McWaters plead guilty to reckless wounding in company and Lawrence to assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Both men will remain in custody ahead of their sentencing on December 7.