Bunbury man who fatally stabbed friend while play wrestling jailed for 19 years

A 23-year-old man who fatally stabbed his friend while they were play wrestling at a house in the West Australian coastal city of Bunbury has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum 19 years behind bars.

Dylan Anthony McColl was found guilty by a Supreme Court jury of murdering 24-year-old Brent Barton in the Bunbury suburb of Eaton in May last year.

The court was told the two were with friends drinking in a shed and play wrestling when McColl became angry and upset after Mr Barton grabbed him in a headlock.

Mr Barton let go and McColl punched him to the jaw.

As Mr Barton apologised and tried to move away with his hands in the air, McColl stabbed him in the chest and back with a boning knife, which Justice Stephen Hall described as a "cowardly thing to do".

McColl, a former abattoir worker, then fled the scene.

At his trial McColl denied responsibility for Mr Barton's death and suggested that two of his friends who were with them in the shed may have been responsible.

Justice Hall said that caused him "reservations" about McColl's level of remorse, however he accepted the stabbing was a "sudden act, borne out of anger" as a result of the altercation with Mr Barton.

He said the death had a tragic effect on Mr Barton's family, including his sisters, his mother – who has since died – and his two-year-old daughter.

Justice Hall said the occupants of the house where the stabbing happened were faced with a "terribly traumatic series of events", and one of them had "heroically" tried to save Mr Barton's life.

Outside the court Mr Barton's sister Jaymie said she remembered her brother as "a happy, bubbly person".

"Nothing will ever bring him back but we've got good memories of him," she said.

"He was a great father, a great uncle, just a great person all round really."

With time already served, McColl will be eligible for release on parole in 2034.