Guilty of murder

By Tania Martin
A MAN has been convicted of the train stabbing murder of former Emerald College student Darren Jones.
A Supreme Court jury found Corey Acuna, 25, formerly of Kilsyth, guilty of murdering the much loved hills musician at Box Hill train station.
The verdict came after a week-long trial where an impassioned cry of “I hope you’re happy” echoed across the court from bereaved relatives last week as video footage of the stabbing was shown.
Mr Jones, 28, died after he was stabbed three times in an unprovoked attack in February 2006.
The Supreme Court heard how an ordinary day for Mr Jones turned to tragedy.
Crown Prosecutor Raymond Gibson said that on Thursday 23 February 2006, Mr Jones was a passenger on a Belgrave bound train along with Acuna.
He said Acuna stabbed Mr Jones three times in the upper body in an ‘unprovoked’ and ‘random’ attack.
Mr Jones was on his way home after finishing class at the Victorian College of the Arts.
The court heard that Acuna sat in an aisle seat diagonally opposite Mr Jones and that he was acting like any other commuter on the train.
Video surveillance showed that Mr Jones spent the trip reading from his course material and kept to himself.
However, shortly after 1.16pm, as the train approached Box Hill station, Acuna stood up and took a large diver’s knife from his pants where he had concealed it.
Mr Gibson said Acuna then attacked Mr Jones with the knife, completely and utterly without warning.
In an effort to defend himself, Mr Jones raised his arm but was stabbed under the armpit on the left side of his body and that this was the fatal blow.
Acuna then calmly left the train.
Witness Madeline Wong said that prior to the stabbing, Acuna stood up with a ‘cold sadistic’ look on his face.
Blake Caddy also witnessed the attack and said that Acuna appeared agitated.
Mr Caddy said Acuna elbowed Mr Jones in the stomach before pulling out a knife.
He said the man then looked at him and his friend, Zoe, before stepping off the train.
Acuna was stopped by police and taken to the homicide squad office in Melbourne.
During that journey, Acuna told police that his drug taking and schizophrenia had led to the attack.
The court heard that Acuna believed Mr Jones was someone who had owed him money.
He told police that Mr Jones had made racial comments towards him and that he had snapped.
“He was just looking at me the wrong way,” Acuna said.
“He pissed me off, said racial stuff to me, so I cracked it, drilled him.”
However, Mr Gibson said that the surveillance footage showed that no conversation occurred between the pair and that there was no evidence to suggest they knew each other.
Defence counsel Graham Thomas conceded that Acuna was responsible for killing Mr Jones but that at the time he was in a disturbed mental state.
Mr Thomas said that the police car interview should not have taken place until officers had undertaken a review of Acuna’s mental health.
He said that Acuna had a history of psychiatric hospital admissions and admitted to police he had problems with schizophrenia.
Acuna will be sentenced at a date to be set.