Zachariah Cain Weatherly: Man who stabbed South West partygoers after leering at teen gets seven years jail

A man who stabbed two young partygoers after being ejected from a South West New Year’s Eve party for leering at a teenage guest has been jailed for seven years. Zachariah Cain Weatherly had tagged along to the 2021 celebration at a Pemberton home with one of the victims, a 20-year-old man he’d known since a young age. The other victim was the 18-year-old host, who was among revellers sitting around a firepit in the backyard drinking. Weatherly, then aged 23, angered the man by telling his 15-year-old girlfriend that she was “hot and really good looking” — and would not stop making such remarks when told to. A physical fight erupted, with Weatherly throwing the first punch. When he began climbing over a fence to leave, the host and others pushed him over it. District Court of WA Judge John Prior said there was “some force used” and Weatherly was injured, having seen footage of the incident filmed on a mobile phone. Weatherly returned “enraged” with a knife about 30-45 minutes later and stabbed the host in the back, cutting his ureter. The 20-year-old man tried to intervene by striking Weatherly’s head with a cricket bat, but was stabbed in the buttock and back, suffering a punctured lung. Weatherly then fled. Sentencing the now 27-year-old last week, Judge Prior said the stabs were forceful and life threatening. Both victims detailed in written statements to the court the profound impact the crime had on them, affecting gait and causing numbness, and inflicting mental trauma. One of the men said thought he might die that night and “still can’t talk about what happened because he’s so scared about it”, Judge Prior said. An aggravating factor was children as young as nine were present, the judge said. He noted Weatherly had no history of violence at the time but had been receiving anti-psychotic medication injections under a community treatment order. That evening, Weatherly drank 10 cans of rum and cola, but was not a regular drinker, and had smoked cannabis in the afternoon despite being warned it may worsen psychotic symptoms. Judge Prior said he now seemed to accept he behaved inappropriately before being ejected from the house but had no recollection of what happened when he returned. The judge took into account Weatherly’s mental illness but also noted the recent spate of knife attacks in the community, saying general deterrence was an important sentencing consideration. Weatherly will be eligible for parole after serving five years behind bars.