A MAN will be sentenced later this year after admitting to stabbing his friend during an attack on Christmas Day in Tamworth.
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Shane Barry Olsen is being held in custody at Lithgow Correctional Centre and appeared via video link in Tamworth Local Court, where he admitted to a new charge.
Solicitor for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Kat McKay told the court the case had resolved, and would be "a committal for sentence" to the district court, on the new charge.
The court heard prosecutors had dropped the charge of malicious wounding, which was to be replaced by an allegation of reckless wounding.
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"Pleas of guilty to sequence two, common assault; there should be a fresh sequence three of reckless wounding," Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS) solicitor Ben Curnow told the court.
Reckless wounding carries a maximum of seven years' imprisonment.
Olsen made no application for bail and will remain in custody ahead of sentencing in Tamworth District Court later this year.
"Upon your pleas of guilty to sequence two and three, I'll commit you for sentence to the district court," magistrate Julie Soars told Olsen.
"I'll mark you as 'bail not applied for, refused' today."
He replied: "OK, thank you."
Olsen will front an arraignment hearing in October to formally enter his pleas.
He has been in custody since he handed himself into police in Tamworth on Christmas night.
The 45-year-old attacked a 48-year-old man about 2.30pm on December 25 at a hostel on Johnston Street in North Tamworth.
Detectives claimed Olsen got into an argument with the older man in a room at the group home before stabbing him in the leg. He then fled the scene.
Officers were alerted to the stabbing and arrived at the home to find the injured man with a leg wound.
The 48-year-old was taken by ambulance to Tamworth hospital for treatment.
He was treated by doctors on Christmas night and left hospital shortly after.
In August, Mr Curnow said the case had been progressing well and "there's been some positive negotiations".
Olsen had his case moved from Legal Aid to the Aboriginal Legal Service in April, after he requested a new solicitor. The court wasn't told why the case was moved, other than that it was at the request of Olsen.
Breanna Chillingworth
Northern Daily Leader Senior Crime and Court Reporter
Northern Daily Leader Senior Crime and Court Reporter
