THE CCTV camera perched on the wall in the dark laneway outside a brothel in Newcastle's CBD captured the frantic and unprovoked attack, 15 seconds of chaos that could have ended with one man dead and another charged with murder.
It is about 3.35am on January 19 last year and the two victims, Nepalese nationals working as chefs at Newcastle's Sapphire Indian Restaurant, walk down narrow Devonshire Street and out of shot before they are followed by Dominic Lagudi.
In a flash, Lagudi has armed himself with a small silver knife and launched a frantic and unprovoked attack, slashing one man in the elbow with the blade before stabbing his friend in the neck.
"Does he understand he nearly killed this man," Judge Troy Anderson said during a sentence hearing for Lagudi in Newcastle District Court on Friday. "The difference in that one stab wound to the neck and we could be dealing with a murder."
But Lagudi, who had just turned 18 two days earlier and was abusing methamphetamine so much that he said he had "literally fried my brain", was lucky.
When the victims ran out onto Hunter Street to desperately search for help they were assisted almost immediately by a passing police car and ambulance.
The quick intervention likely saved one man's life, with a doctor later opining that without immediate treatment there was a prospect the stab wound to his neck would have been life-threatening.
Defence solicitor Garrett Bithell said Lagudi was remorseful and the gravity of the stabbing was not lost on him.
"He appreciates it could have been very different and he is very lucky the victim made a full recovery," Mr Bithell said.
Mr Bithell said Lagudi was essentially in the throes of a drug-induced psychosis and the stabbings needed to be viewed in the context of the teenager's history of childhood deprivation, drug addiction and mental illness.
Judge Anderson will sentence Lagudi next week.
Lagudi, his then girlfriend and another man drove into Newcastle about 3.20am on January 19 last year and parked in King Street, according to an agreed statement of facts.
Lagudi and his girlfriend then walked down Devonshire Street, a narrow laneway between Hunter and King Street, and sat down outside the Asian Star brothel.
Meanwhile, the two chefs had just gotten out of an Uber and walked down the laneway before trying to gain access to the brothel.
They were nearby when Lagudi suddenly pulled out a small silver knife and pushed one of the chefs to the chest.
He then punched the man in the face and when he backed away, Lagudi walked quickly towards him and stabbed him in the elbow.
Before being stabbed, the chef had called out to his friend for help and Lagudi then stabbed that man in the neck with the blade.
Lagudi then backed away, covered his face and ran. He got back into the boot of the car before being dropped at a park in New Lambton.
Meanwhile, the two chefs were bleeding profusely and cowering in an alcove in the laneway. Eventually, the chefs emerged and stood on Hunter Street until a passing police car and ambulance stopped to help them.
The two chefs were taken to hospital where the man who had been stabbed in the neck had to be intubated and undergo surgery to stop the wound from compromising his airway.
He had suffered a three centimetre laceration to his neck, while his friend had sustained a 12.5cm cut to his forearm.
Lagudi and his then girlfriend were arrested at a unit block in Jesmond in March last year and Lagudi was later interviewed about the stabbing.
"F--- knows," Lagudi replied. "I was f---ed up."
Lagudi said he had just turned 18 and was "abusing the meth" and said he had "literally fried my brain".
