An Illawarra man who defied the odds to survive a life-threatening stab wound to the heart was in Wollongong District Court on Friday to see the man who inflicted the injury sentenced to two years' behind bars.
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Doctors said the wound to Michael Court's heart was so serious he had no pulse and was clinically dead when he arrived at Wollongong Hospital in the early hours of May 26 last year.
Miraculously, doctors were able to revive him and he was rushed into surgery immediately to repair a 1cm-long puncture wound to the right ventricle before being flown to St George Hospital and placed in the ICU.
In a statement tendered to court on Friday during the sentencing of his attacker, Jack Hayden Rush, Mr Court's treating surgeon Dr Selwyn Selvendran revealed just how lucky the young man had been.
"The current evidence suggests the survival rate of these patients are somewhere between 9-12 per cent," he said.
"Mr Court is alive because of the immediate action of the surgeon, other doctors and nurses who looked after him in Wollongong Hospital."
The court heard a heavily intoxicated Rush was riding in a car with friends, one of whom had a large hunting knife, when they met Mr Court at the kebab shop next to Metro Fuel at Bellambi.
We sometimes as a community excuse excessive drinking but it's clear from all the material before me this offence wouldn't have occurred if he'd been able to control his capacity to drink to excess.
Rush and Mr Court began talking through the car window when Rush suggested the pair "go f--k something up", and indicated a friend's car was the target.
When Mr Court objected, Rush suddenly lunged at him with the knife and plunged it into his chest. Mr Court stumbled backwards and pulled the knife out. The group then bundled Mr Court into the car and headed for Wollongong Hospital, covering the wound with a t-shirt and applying pressure.
Rush demanded to be let out of the car half-way, saying "f--k this, get me out of here, I'm going to go down for this shit."
Giving evidence in court on Friday, Rush was at a loss to explain his actions and described what had happened as a "freak accident" but accepted his behaviour had been reckless.
He said he and Mr Court were "tight" before the incident and remained close friends now.
Judge Andrew Haesler said Rush's intoxicated state may have explained his behaviour but it was no excuse.
"We sometimes as a community excuse excessive drinking but it's clear from all the material before me this offence wouldn't have occurred if he'd been able to control his capacity to drink to excess," he said.
He sentenced Rush to an overall jail term of three years and four months, with a non-parole period of two years. With time served, Rush will be paroled in May 2020.
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