'Kill the turtle and I'll kill you'

Narelle Higgs | 4th July 2009

©istockphoto/DNY59

THE stomach of a camper was spilling out after he was stabbed at a campsite in Tinnanbar on New Year's Eve, a court has heard.

Guboo Fraser, the man accused of stabbing Sean Kiedge, appeared in the Hervey Bay Magistrates Court charged with grievous bodily harm. Fraser has been committed to the District Court for trial at a date to be set. He was released from custody in May.

Witness Steven Vanderkyl, who had been camping with the victim, admitted his friend of 30 years was an alcoholic with a volatile temper.

Mr Vanderkyl told the court Mr Kiedge became a little “testy” when the accused allegedly went to kill a turtle at the campsite two days before the stabbing.

“He told him 'Kill the turtle and I'll kill you. I will cut your throat',” Mr Vanderkyl told the courtroom.

The court heard that on December 31 Mr Kiedge and Fraser were allegedly involved in a fight that left Mr Kiedge in a serious condition with a stab wound. Mr Vanderkyl attended to him for an hour and 20 minutes, he said, before police and ambulance arrived.

“I put him on his side and put pressure on it,” he said.

“A part of his stomach was poking out of the wound.”