In the ensuing fracas, 24-year-old Shawn Michael Taylor stabbed his victim three times — one wound to the chest just 2cm from the man’s heart.
The defendant appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday after pleading guilty to wounding with reckless disregard.
Judge David Robinson sentenced Taylor to 21 months’ imprisonment.
Since the attack, the victim has been unable to work and might have permanent nerve damage.
He previously told the Otago Daily Times he felt lucky to be alive.
While the chest wound was the greatest concern for surgeons at the time, the victim said it was the injuries to his arm that had the greatest impact.
‘‘I just can’t pick up my wrist or my fingers and my thumb ... it’s just floppy pretty much,’’ he said.
His carpentry apprenticeship had been put on hold and there remained a possibility he would never play rugby again.
The court heard the victim was socialising in the CBD early on September 27 when he and the group wandered down an alleyway off George St.
Taylor, who lived in a flat nearby, called out for them to leave.
Court documents said the situation quickly escalated into ‘‘a heated verbal exchange’’.
Taylor told them: ‘‘I have a knife.’’
He then lunged at the victim and during the tussle, the man sustained wounds to his right forearm, upper arm and chest.
Taylor ran back inside his home while emergency services were called.
The victim’s two 3cm wounds to his arms — one of which severed the radial nerve — were closed by an orthopaedic surgeon.
The damage could be permanent, a prosecution summary said.
The victim’s other injury required surgery by a heart specialist.
When interviewed by police, Taylor said the victim ‘‘took a swing’’ and then came at him a second time, which prompted the fight.
He admitted carrying the knife with him, but said he did not intentionally stab the man.
Judge Robinson told Taylor there was a clear ‘‘reckless element’’ in the attack.
‘‘There was also a good deal of premeditation.’’
Judge Robinson also told Taylor that there was a ‘‘2cm’’ difference in the chest wound from the heart.
‘‘You missed. You were lucky.
‘‘You caused the wounds knowing you ran the risk [of worse].’’
Judge Robinson set the sentencing at a starting point of 30 months’ imprisonment, and allowed discounts for Taylor’s early guilty plea and some expression of remorse.
The final sentence was 21 months’ imprisonment.
‘‘I encourage you to think about where you are going.
‘‘There is some work to be done.
‘‘This has been a lucky escape.’’
Taylor previously made headlines in 2019 when he was convicted of sexual connection with a young person.
The court at the time heard the then-17-year-old had been drinking at a Mosgiel party with other young people when he engaged in a sex act with a 13-year-old girl.
The incident was filmed by another person and Taylor gave a thumbs-up to the camera.
He was sentenced to community detention and intensive supervision.
