A ONE-LEGGED man claims he began having "flashbacks" and everything became "hazy" in the moments before he stabbed an associate in the stomach outside the Broadmeadow railway station last year.
Zac Rolls-Fitzgerald, 26, of Bar Beach, says, despite what the victim told police, the attack was not "completely random" and the pair knew each other and had agreed to meet to discuss a minor drug debt on the morning of April 14
But Rolls-Fitzgerald told Newcastle District Court he became "anxious" and "overwhelmed" as he approached the victim about 10.10am.
"I wasn't in a good way," Rolls-Fitzgerald said. "I didn't know what I was walking into. I can't actually remember doing it. I just remember the last thing he said to me is 'if you haven't got my money I'm going to shoot you'. "I was living a life where I was surrounded by criminals and drug addicts. I shouldn't have had the knife and what happened shouldn't have happened."
CCTV shows the pair walk towards each other and speak briefly before Rolls-Fitzgerald suddenly produced a knife and stabbed the victim in the stomach.
The victim immediately fled down the road, with Rolls-Fitzgerald following behind him.
At the same time police turned into Broadmeadow Road and saw Rolls-Fitzgerald chasing the victim with a knife hidden behind his back.
When police caught up to the pair and called out for Rolls-Fitzgerald to stop, he threw the knife into a hedge outside a home and continued to go after the victim.
The pair began fighting before police broke it up and the victim said: "He stabbed me", pulling up his shirt to reveal a wound bleeding profusely.
Police told Rolls-Fitzgerald he was under arrest and told him to sit down, but he repeatedly refused and kept going after the victim.
He tried to grab a police baton and attempted to walk away and had to be capsicum sprayed and tackled to the ground by officers.
Police found the knife in bushes nearby and DNA swabs later confirmed a match to Rolls-Fitzgerald.
Meanwhile, the victim was taken to the emergency department at John Hunter Hospital for treatment to a wound to his abdomen.
The victim later told police that it was an "entirely random attack", but messages show the two men had been in contact beforehand and Rolls-Fitzgerald gave evidence that the meeting related to him owing the victim $100 for Xanax.
Rolls-Fitzgerald, who in 2020 was jailed for his role in a home invasion at Valentine and for robbing a 17-year-old boy with a toy shotgun, last year pleaded guilty to reckless wounding over the railway station stabbing.
And on Friday, Judge Ian Bourke, SC, jailed him for a maximum of two years and six months, with a non-parole period of 18 months.
Rolls-Fitzgerald, who read an emotional letter pledging to finally do something about his drug addiction and mental health issues, will be eligible for parole in October.
