Man trying to help long-term friend when stabbed

Simon Gray was trying to help an old friend going through a hard time by finding housing, when he met him and got into his car.

But once they drove around the corner, Thomas Hughes locked the doors of his Volkswagen Golf, trapping Mr Gray inside.

Hughes pulled out a kitchen knife and told Mr Gray he was going to kill him, before stabbing him several times in the stomach.

Mr Gray, a real estate agent, told Melbourne Magistrates Court he's still in a "state of shock" about the August 2022 attack.

"The emotional and psychological trauma I have suffered has been even more challenging than the physical injuries," he said, in a statement read to the court on Friday.

"I was not fully aware of the reason I was meeting him that night, he had called me multiple times that day, I assumed it may be about his living situation."

He said he was still coming to terms with the fact that someone he once trusted could turn on him in such a violent manner.

Hughes stabbed Mr Gray in the neck and stomach while he sat in the passenger seat of his Volkswagen. 

Mr Gray managed to defend himself and escaped, later going to a medical clinic for treatment.

He said the physical scars served as a constant reminder of "that grim night", and he still lived in fear of Mr Hughes. 

"Doctors said I was fortunate not have organs, my liver and spleen, injured in the attack," Mr Gray said.

Hughes, 56, has pleaded guilty to six charges, including recklessly engaging in conduct by stabbing, false imprisonment and threats to kill, over the attack on Mr Gray and another stabbing on his housemate that same day, on August 8, 2022.

He had been forced to move out of his home after failing to pay rent and had recently moved in with Jennifer King.

Ms King was stabbed two to three times, including in the chest, by Hughes at their Ascot Vale sharehouse. 

She spent four days in hospital.

Hughes' life was on a downward spiral after the collapse of a 15-year relationship, cocaine use, an escalating gambling addiction and the collapse of his horse training business, the court heard previously.

His lawyer Merran Shanahan said on Wednesday the offending occurred at the "lowest ebb of Mr Hughes' life" and he was delusional, believing his housemate was trying to poison him.

He was arrested the day after the stabbings, after being pursued by police in Kensington and driving into a tree. 

All parties have agreed to have the case heard by a magistrate, despite the seriousness of the offending.

Ms Shanahan has asked for Hughes to be sentenced to a community corrections order combined with time served, since he has already spent seven months in prison.

But Magistrate Jarrod Williams said time served may not be enough because the offending was "objectively grave".

He will sentence Hughes at a later date.

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