A RAYMOND Terrace couple who "viciously" bashed a man who was stabbed eight times in the back with a screwdriver during a wild brawl at Nelson Bay will be released from jail in the next few months.
Georgie Marks, 27, and Jack Pearman, 28, were drunk and had been arguing when they committed an "unexplained and unprovoked" attack on a man trying to help a friend in Donald Street in the early hours of March 13 last year.
The pair had pleaded not guilty to wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and were expected to face a trial in Newcastle District Court this week.
But on Monday, after negotiations between the prosecution and defence, they agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of reckless wounding in company after the more serious charge was withdrawn.
On Friday, Judge Peter McGrath, SC, jailed both Marks and Pearman for a maximum of two years, ordering Marks - who was the aggressor in the attack - to serve a non-parole period of 16 months and Pearman, a non-parole period of 15 months.
With time served, the pair will be released from jail in June and July, respectively.
The pair had arrived at a friend's apartment in Donald Street, Nelson Bay about 6.30pm on March 12 and spent the night drinking, listening to music and socialising.
At some point, around 1.30am the next day, the pair went outside and argued, according to an agreed statement of facts.
It was then that the victim, a 41-year-old man, arrived on the back of a motorbike to help a friend move his car.
He saw Marks and Pearman arguing nearby and was peering into a car window to see if his friend was inside when he was suddenly attacked from behind.
Marks and Pearman both "launched" into the victim and began bashing him while he lay curled up on the ground.
The victim's friends tried repeatedly to intervene but Marks and Pearman kept attacking him.
Marks was "the aggressor", according to agreed facts, and was on top of the victim "most of the time", as Pearman kept calling out "she's pregnant, she's pregnant".
At one point, the victim's friend attempted to unlock his car and told the 41-year-old to run to his vehicle to shelter from the attack.
But when he got to the car it wouldn't unlock and Marks and Pearman attacked him again, throwing him to the ground, kicking and punching him.
During the attack, CCTV from a nearby business picked up Marks saying: "Jack Pearman's my f---en man" and "Don't mess with Georgie Marks c---! Georgie Marks!"
At one point during the attack, while the victim was on the ground, he started screaming. He had been stabbed eight times in the back with a screwdriver.
The prosecution could not prove who inflicted the stab wounds or whether it was either of Marks or Pearman, but they pleaded guilty to reckless wounding in company on the basis they intended to assault the victim, who was then stabbed during the brawl.
The victim and his friends managed to flee in the car and the victim was later flown to John Hunter Hospital suffering eight puncture wounds to his back, four fractured ribs, a collapsed lung and other internal injuries.
Meanwhile, Marks and Pearman went back inside their friend's unit and spent the night there.
In the morning, with police outside examining the crime scene, the pair walked outside, spoke briefly with police and left.
They were arrested a week later and said they had spent the night of the brawl in the apartment and had not gone outside.
However, police later got the CCTV footage that had audio of Marks shouting their names and when police found the screwdriver the next day it had Marks's DNA on it.
To see more stories and read today's paper download the Newcastle Herald news app here.
