A student impersonated a drug dealer in order to lure a man to a meeting in Canberra's south, where his uncle repeatedly stabbed the victim as retribution for an alleged rape, police claim.
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Investigators have also told a court the accused stabber later boasted to his partner about eating with the same knife used in the alleged attempted murder.
Details of the case against Ashleigh Wayne Wilson, 33, and his nephew Andrew James Francis Beath-Williams, 23, were revealed during a bail application in the ACT Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
Both men have pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder and aggravated robbery.
In documents tendered to the court, police say the stabbing victim contacted a woman, Emmah Louise Gill, on October 1 last year "in efforts to purchase cannabis".
At the time, Ms Gill was with her friend Mr Beath-Williams, a student from Wanniassa who apparently recognised the man's Facebook Messenger profile.
Police claim Mr Beath-Williams took control of Ms Gill's phone and pretended to be her in order to direct the man to a drug exchange at the Erindale Scout Hall car park in Gowrie that night.
He allegedly told Ms Gill: "My uncle Ashleigh is going to sell [the man] the cannabis and I'm going to bash him."
According to investigators, Mr Wilson and Mr Beath-Williams ambushed the man when he arrived at the meeting point in a car driven by his mother.
"[Mr Wilson] produced a knife and immediately drove it into the left side of [the victim]'s neck, piercing the skin and missing his carotid artery by 1mm," police allege in court documents.
"[Mr Wilson] continued to violently drive the knife towards [the victim]'s neck another two times.
"[The victim] raised his left hand in efforts to protect his neck and face, resulting in two defensive wounds to his left hand."
Police say Mr Beath-Williams was also carrying a large knife, which he allegedly threatened to stab the victim with.
He allegedly "physically assaulted" the victim, saying while doing so that the attack was payback for the rape of a woman he knew.
Investigators allege Mr Wilson went on to stab the victim twice more in the left thigh before he and Mr Beath-Williams stole $110 and a sports watch from the man.
According to police, the victim's mother eventually managed to drive him to a service station in Chisholm to seek help.
Court documents say that more than three months later, in January, police were called to a disturbance at a home in Wollongong, where Mr Wilson was temporarily living with his partner.
The woman allegedly told officers that Mr Wilson had spoken to her about having stabbed a man in Canberra.
"[Mr Wilson] was further boasting about eating with the same knife he stabbed someone with," police allege.
Mr Wilson was ultimately arrested in Tasmania in early February, before being extradited to the ACT.
Mr Beath-Williams was also taken into custody last month, and court documents say he admitted to investigators that he had been at the scene of the October 1 incident.
However, he is said to have denied any direct involvement in the stabbing and claimed to have stayed with a car the whole time.
Both Mr Wilson and Mr Beath-Williams have been behind bars on remand since their arrests.
Mr Beath-Williams failed in an application for bail on Wednesday, with Magistrate Louise Taylor finding defence lawyer Darryl Perkins had failed to establish the special or exceptional circumstances necessary for bail to be granted in an attempted murder case.
He and Mr Wilson, a Richardson resident who has not applied for bail, are each due back in court on April 27.
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