Golf club killer jailed
A man has been sentenced to seven years and six months in jail for killing a 23-year-old with a broken golf club at a block of public housing flats in Bunbury.
Christopher James Marshall stabbed 23-year-old Quentin Cornwall five times at a notoriously violent block of flats known as The Bronx on January 25 last year.
The court was told Marshall was confronted by Mr Cornwall, who was heavily intoxicated, before a fight broke out between the pair.
Marshall stabbed Mr Cornwall with so much force that the golf club penetrated close to the width of his body.
He was charged with murder and was due to face trial earlier this year when prosecutors accepted his guilty plea to the lesser charge of manslaughter.
Supreme Court Commissioner Kevin Sleight today told Marshall he may have felt under threat at the time but that did not justify his actions.
He said he understood Marshall was overtaken by anger and did not mean to kill Mr Cornwall.
The court was told Marshall had suffered a brain injury in 1999 that affected his ability to make good decisions.
He initially tried to calm Mr Cornwall down but decided to arm himself after his victim ripped the flywire from his door and picked up a broken leg from a chair.
Outside court, Mr Cornwall's mother said her son did not deserve to die in the way that he did.
"I think it was a cruel and callous way that he suffered alone and how he went about it ," she said.
"I'm still not happy with the sentencing."
