A MAN accused of throwing a knife at another man at Morpeth, leaving a seven centimetre blade embedded in his eye socket has been granted bail after his lawyer argued it was a "very serious accident" and the case against him was doomed to fail.
Ben Renyard has been charged with wounding a person with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and reckless wounding after allegedly throwing a knife at the 26-year-old man at a business on George Street about 8.45pm on July 3.
But the 37-year-old could be released from jail as early as next week after he was granted conditional bail in Newcastle Local Court on Friday, a magistrate satisfied any risks he posed could be mitigated by a number of strict conditions, including a curfew and a $10,000 surety.
Mr Renyard is expected to be released from custody on Tuesday, when the three-month jail term he is currently serving for domestic violence offences expires.
And as part of his conditions he will also have to relocate to Sydney and is banned from going within 50 kilometres of Morpeth.
Mr Renyard has not entered any pleas, but his lawyer, Steven Mercael, argued last week that he should be released on conditional bail because the most serious charge was "doomed to fail" due to there being no CCTV footage of the alleged attack.
He also said police had since taken a statement from the injured man, who said there had been no argument beforehand and the knife had not been thrown in his direction.
"It wasn't even [thrown] in my direction," the alleged victim said in a statement to police, Mr Mercael told the court. "So I don't know how it ended up coming towards me."
Mr Mercael said the defence case was that Mr Renyard was "doing something unrelated with the knife... in relation to a bottle of alcohol when unfortunately a very serious accident occurred".
He argued prosecutors had "no prospects of success" in relation to the more serious charge that alleges Mr Renyard wounded the man with intent.
Mr Mercael said there was a possibility of Mr Renyard receiving a jail term if convicted of reckless wounding given the seriousness of the injury, which the court heard included surgery to have a seven centimetre piece of the knife blade removed from his eye socket and the insertion of a glass eye.
"The complainant has given a statement clearly saying nothing was thrown in his direction," Mr Mercael said. "We have a man in custody who has been there for three months. The matter is going to take some time to resolve and if he is to remain in custody then that period would be longer than he could receive if convicted."
Magistrate Ian Cheetham had deferred his decision for a week, noting Mr Renyard was not due to finish an unrelated period of imprisonment until October 8.
And on Friday, he granted bail on those strict conditions.
The matter will return to court in November when prosecutors are expected to finalise the charges Mr Renyard will ultimately face in Newcastle District Court.
