After a bloody brawl at a sharehouse, Darryl Kennedy threatened a neighbour who had scaled the fence to save the life of the man he had just stabbed.
"Let this be a lesson to you, I'm going to jail for murder," Kennedy said, before walking to a McDonald's and throwing the knife in a bin.
Chris Taylor, 45, died after Kennedy stabbed him several times on September 12, 2021.
Kennedy, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter, faced Victoria's Supreme Court on Monday where he was jailed for more than six years.
The 44-year-old had been kicked out of his girlfriend's house due to an unpaid loan the night before the killing.
He had been drinking and was high on valium, when his father picked him up from a supermarket and drove him to a Bayswater North property where he once lived.
Kennedy was hoping to stay at the sharehouse as the owner owed him a few hundreds dollars.
Mr Taylor, who was from Queensland, was also staying at the home and when Kennedy arrived the two started fighting.
Kennedy stabbed Mr Taylor several times with a fish filleting knife.
Mr Taylor, bleeding and disoriented, ran into the backyard and called for help from a neighbour, who climbed over the fence
He was staggering, with blood on his face, and tripped on a tarpaulin before falling against a ute in the backyard.
Kennedy told the neighbour not to get involved as it was none of his business, and then walked to a nearby McDonald's where police saw him throw a knife into a bin.
He was arrested at the fast food restaurant.
Mr Taylor's neighbour called emergency services and he was declared dead at the scene.
Justice Michael Croucher sentenced Kennedy to a maximum nine-and-a-half-years in prison on Monday.
He found Kennedy did not intend to kill Mr Taylor that evening, as he did not bring the knife to the house and his intoxicated state would have impaired his judgment.
"I accept that the stabbing appears to have been spontaneous, rather than premeditated," the judge said.
Justice Croucher apologised to Mr Taylor's family, who had previously called Kennedy a "monster" and told the court of their heartbreak.
"I'm terribly sorry for your loss, it must be horrible," he said.
Kennedy has already spent one year and eight months behind bars and must served six-and-a-half years before he can apply for parole.
