Teen who stabbed victim in Colac and fled from police after drug bust in Warrnambool pleads guilty

Jyden Alberts, of Warrnambool, pleaded guilty in Warrnambool Magistrates Court on Wednesday to 13 charges including trafficking methamphetamine, as well as weapon, assault and bail offences.

Police prosecutor Senior Constable Paul Harris told the court Alberts got into a fight with the victim on August 14 last year while at an address in Colac.

During the fight, Alberts produced a knife and stabbed the victim in the chest and back before running away.

The victim was later found by witnesses staggering along Corangamite Street clutching his chest. An ambulance was called and he was assessed to have serious but non-life-threatening wounds.

Then on November 27, police received a call from staff at the Austral Hotel in Colac stating two males were causing trouble in the gaming area and being verbally abusive.

The description of the males matched that of an earlier call to police about a male pointing a laser at motorists.

A search of the offender located the laser pointer, brass knuckles, a pipe and a small plastic bag of methamphetamine.

On December 5 at about 6pm, the man was observed on CCTV dropping a small container at the BP service station in Camperdown. A staff member found it and believed it to contain cannabis.

On December 30 at about 2.25am, police observed a car on Mortlake Road, Warrnambool.

The offender fled on foot after seeing police. A search of the car found 20 grams of methamphetamine valued at $15,000, seven diazepam tablets, and 400ml of 1,4-butanedoil, which is similar to GHB, valued at $5000. The remaining passengers told police the drugs belonged to Alberts.

The man was on bail and was breaching curfew at the time.

Addressing Alberts' lawyer, magistrate Gerard Lethbridge said the "seriousness and danger" of stabbing warranted a term of imprisonment.

"Your client is extraordinarily lucky that he didn't kill the victim involved in this matter," he said.

"There's no question that the sentencing principles of denunciation and specific deterrence when the court is dealing with the intentional stabbing of an individual take primacy."

Alberts will be remanded in custody until March 31 where he will be sentenced. In the meantime he'll be assessed for a community correction order.

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