Sadistic train knife man convicted

By Tania Martin
FORMER Upper Yarra man Corey Acuna was yesterday found guilty of the murder of musician Darren Jones, by a Supreme Court jury.
The verdict comes 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.
The Supreme Court heard that despite admitting to stabbing Mr Jones, Acuna pleaded not guilty by reasons of insanity.
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 Jones, 28, died after he was stabbed three times in an unprovoked attack in February 2006.
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.
He was then stopped by police and taken to the homicide squad office in Melbourne.
During the trip, Acuna, told police that his drug taking and schizophrenia had led to his 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.
Mr Thomas said that the car interview should not have taken place until police 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.