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Applause erupted in a Melbourne courtroom as a man was jailed for killing a young father and stabbing his brother over a romantic dispute.
Ashley Roy Feetham repeatedly stabbed Dylan Bond, 26, and his brother Heath in April 2021 after the pair went to confront him.
Dylan Bond died in the Geelong stabbing.Credit: Facebook
Heath’s fiancée had an affair with Feetham and the pair began a relationship after she broke up with Heath.
A fortnight after the break-up, Heath confronted his ex, Abbey Sexton, on a night out in Geelong, where they had a lengthy discussion about their relationship.
Feetham interrupted their chat and the two men fought in the street.
In the days following, the brothers exchanged several messages and arranged to go to Sexton’s house to “sort it”.
The Bond family celebrate outside court.Credit: AAP
On April 26, the brothers drove to the house in the Geelong suburb of Thomson.
Feetham, who was on the porch, ran inside and locked the door.
Heath walked through the sliding door at the side of the house, but was stabbed in the chest by Feetham within seconds.
He called out “knife”, and Dylan rushed into the house and tried to restrain Feetham, but he was stabbed several times in the chest.
Ashley FeethamCredit: AAP
On Thursday, Justice Stephen Kaye said the brothers had intended to physically confront Feetham when they went to the house, and he had grabbed a knife and stabbed them to defend himself.
“Dylan and Heath, who were each taller and stronger than you, attended … for the purpose of physically confronting you,” he told the Supreme Court, as he sentenced Feetham.
But he said Feetham’s actions “significantly exceeded” what was necessary to protect himself from the brothers.
“Your actions were entirely disproportionate to the degree of threat that they posed to you,” he said.
“The use by you of a knife was not only unnecessary, but plainly it could only have ended with tragic consequences.”
Dylan, who had married the mother of his 17-month-old son two months earlier, died at the scene.
Heath, who lost 1.5 litres of blood, survived after undergoing emergency surgery and spending days in intensive care.
Kaye jailed Feetham for 22 years with a non-parole term of 16 after a jury found him guilty of murder and intentionally causing serious injury.
“You used a knife, which is a dangerous and lethal weapon,” he said.
He said Heath would suffer not only from the “longstanding” physical effects of the crime, but the trauma of seeing his brother murdered.
“Heath witnessed, at close quarters, the traumatic circumstances, in which you murdered his brother Dylan, to whom he was particularly close,” Kaye said.
As the judge stood to adjourn the court, dozens of the Bond brothers’ family and friends seated in the public gallery applauded.
Outside court, their mother, Fiona Hollowood, said she hoped the sentence would allow the family to finally move on with their lives.
“It would be nice if it would have been a little bit more. We’ll never bring Dylan back,” she said.
“But the chapter is finally closed after 2½ years, and we can all start to move on with our own life again now.”
AAP
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