Factual. Independent. Impartial.
We supply news, images and multimedia to hundreds of news outlets every day
Courts
Emily Woods

Man jailed for killing neighbour in drunken row

A man who stabbed his neighbour to death in a drunken argument will spend up to 23 years in jail. (James Ross/AAP PHOTOS)

"He's dead meat," an intoxicated Clive Whyte told an emergency services operator.

Moments earlier, Martin Bebbington had called triple zero and requested an ambulance, saying Whyte was trying to hold him down and he had a knife with him.

"Are you going to stab me with that knife?" the 59-year-old said.

Those were Mr Bebbington's final words before he let out several screams as he was stabbed 11 times by Whyte.

"He’s f***ing dead and I'm going to jail," Whyte told triple zero.

Police arrived to find Mr Bebbington's body slouched against his bedroom door, Whyte sitting on the lounge room floor and a bloody knife on the kitchen bench.

Whyte was found guilty of murder by a jury last year, over the December 2020 stabbing of Mr Bebbington at his Alexandra home, in Victoria's northeast.

The two men had struck up a friendship that involved drinking together, and were both heavily intoxicated on evening Mr Bebbington was killed.

Neighbours heard them having a loud drunken argument, about 1am on December 7.

Whyte's head was injured in the fight and Mr Bebbington called for an ambulance around 1.30am.

The operator heard Whyte calling his friend a "f***ing moron" before he picked up a kitchen knife.

"He's got a knife with him," Mr Bebbington told triple zero, before Whyte stabbed him, including a 20 to 25 centimetre wound through his chest.

Whyte told the operator: "We've both been drinking so it looks like I'm the culprit or f***ing whatever."

At a pre-sentence hearing in July, Whyte's lawyer argued he deserved a reduced jail term due to his level of intoxication during the offending.

He was disinhibited and did not necessarily mean to kill his neighbour, defence barrister Sarah Keating argued.

But Supreme Court Justice Amanda Fox rejected these claims, as she handed him a maximum sentence of 23 years on Tuesday.

"Your intoxication is no excuse for what you did, Mr Bebbington's family have been left devastated by what you did," she said.

"Your attack was brutal as evidenced by the 11 knife wounds you inflicted."

The 65-year-old shook his head, while standing in the court dock as he was sentenced.

She handed him less than the standard sentence as the murder was "spontaneous" and committed when Whyte was "not thinking clearly".

He will have to spend at least 16 years and four months behind bars before he is eligible for parole, and has already served two years and nine months of his sentence.

Sign up to read this article
Get your dose of factual, independent and impartial news
Already a member? Sign in here
Top stories on AAP right now