A man has been jailed after chaotic and "scary" scenes erupted on a train in the Hunter when he launched a horrific domestic violence attack while armed with a knife.
What started as a dispute over a phone between Darryl Luke Smith and his partner, the mother of his eight children, descended into a moving hostage situation that left her with stab wounds and others on board trapped.
The CountryLink passenger service between Broadmeadow and Moree was forced to stop in the "middle of nowhere" while police rushed to the scene.
Smith, 41, who was on parole at the time, was hit with a Taser and capsicum spray before he was able to be sedated and taken to hospital.
In Newcastle District Court on Monday, August 17, Judge Roy Ellis sentenced Smith to six years in jail, with a non-parole period of three years.
"This was a pretty scary thing, I have no doubt, for the passengers on that train," he said.
Judge Ellis said the staff members were vulnerable at work. He said the prolonged attack on Smith's partner amounted to domestic violence.
"She should be the person you look after the most, not the person you should be violent with," Judge Ellis said.
"Don't get violent, just leave."
Smith and his partner had recently got back together when they boarded the train service at Broadmeadow about midday on November 23, 2024.
A male staff member intervened when the woman asked for her phone back and Smith refused.
She said she was scared and asked the staff member to call police, so Smith threw a tray of coffee at her and punched her.
When the staff member tried to step in, Smith twisted his finger and said: "Stay away or I will kill her and kill you."
The woman fled to the buffet cart, where a female staff member closed the door on Smith, but he jumped over the counter and screamed as she radioed for police.
The two women were trapped, with the staff member pinned against the wall, as Smith stabbed his partner.
The staff member escaped but Smith and his partner followed her into the carriage, before he threw the victim into her seat and jabbed at her two or three more times. He called her derogatory names.
Smith used luggage to barricade himself and her inside sliding doors between carriages.
As the train departed Singleton, an employee in the driver's cabin heard the radio broadcast for help. The driver stopped near Ravensworth and the employee went to the buffet car.
"I'll f---ing kill ya, get the train moving," Smith yelled at the employee.
Staff managed to raise the alarm and police arrived. The 10 passengers in the carriage were urged to escape out a rear door and onto the tracks.
Smith refused to move away from his bleeding partner or put the knife down.
A police officer thought Smith was going to stab the woman again after he said "take one step closer and I will kill her", so ran at him and discharged her taser.
Other officers entered and kicked luggage out of the way. Smith was hit in the face with a short burst of capsicum spray, tasered again, then disarmed. He has remained in custody since.
Paramedics took the woman to John Hunter Hospital, where she was treated for a number of stab wounds and underwent surgery.
Smith was due to stand trial in 2027 but pleaded guilty in May after prosecutors agreed to drop more serious charges.
Smith was sentenced for recklessly wounding his partner, detaining her without consent, and intimidating her, as well as three counts of common assault.
The court heard details of Smith's troubled background, the cognitive difficulties he lived with and the risk of his institutionalisation.
Judge Ellis made a strong finding of special circumstances in the case.
