Man who stabbed ex-wife's friend 14 times, leaving her for dead, denied parole

Daryen Owens, 48, says he will abstain from alcohol when he is released from prison. Photo / Rob Kidd

A Dunedin man who stabbed his ex-wife's friend 14 times and left her for dead has been declined parole.

In 2017, Daryen Leslie John Owens, 48, was jailed for 10 years after pleading guilty to attempted murder.

He came before the Parole Board last month and gave a succinct reflection on the bloody attack.

"I wish I could take it back, but it is too late now. Just have to take it," he said.

Panel convener Tania Williams Blyth said Owens had been deemed a moderate risk of violent and general reoffending, after a recent psychologist's session.

"There is still work for Owens to do and he accepts that," she said.

On February 7, 2016, the defendant turned up at the Cutten St house where his ex-partner Leanne Donaldson lived with the 40-year-old victim.

Despite Owens telling Donaldson the victim was ''going to get a lesson she would never forget'', Donaldson woke her up and told her to answer the door.

When confronted by Owens he claimed she had ruined his life, then grabbed her by the throat, head-butted her and stabbed her in the shoulder.

As the victim fled, he stabbed her four times in the back and a further nine times in the front of her body.

She suffered a lacerated liver, a punctured lung and injuries to her thoracic spine. Medical staff said she was lucky to survive.

At sentencing she spoke of her post-traumatic stress disorder and described herself as "a shell of what I used to be".

Police found the defendant's bloody finger and palm print at the South Dunedin crime scene.

Owens tried to hide the knife at a woman's house in a bid to frame her.

The Parole Board heard the prisoner had a history of offending stretching back to 1992, which included violence and weapons convictions.

While in Invercargill Prison, Owens had undertaken drug and violence rehabilitation but other courses were also recommended.

He told the board alcohol played a key role in the frenzied stabbing and he planned to remain abstinent once released.

"It has been a long time since he has had a drink, and he has learned how to control his drinking. Hopefully, he will do some counselling when he gets out," Williams Blyth said.

Owens will next see the Parole Board in February next year.