A man who "snapped" and viciously stabbed his partner and toddler daughter evaded police for months by living on the streets and adopting a new identity, a court has been told.
The 35-year-old man was jailed for 12 years today after pleading guilty in the Supreme Court in Brisbane to the attempted murder of the 29-year-old woman and the wounding of their two-year-old.
Prosecutor Glen Cash told the court the couple had been in a volatile relationship for years but the man was not living at their Chermside home in November 2007 when the incident occurred.
He told the court the man dropped them off after a visit and then brutally stabbed them with scissors and a butcher's knife.
The woman suffered life-threatening injuries from 26 wounds to her upper body and head, and spent two months in hospital.
The toddler received mainly minor wounds when she inadvertently came between her parents.
Though her father initially denied the attack he later told psychiatrists that he had simply "snapped" at something his partner had said.
"I was in a frenzy ... there was nothing in my mind," he said.
"(My daughter) was just a blob of colour. I stabbed her just to get her out of the way."
After the attack the man fled and remained on the run for four months, evading police by living on the streets and adopting a new identity.
He was eventually arrested in Gympie.
The man was declared a serious violent offender and must serve 80 per cent of his sentence before applying for parole.
