Alleged children's birthday party stabber Jaspreet Mavi granted bail

A man accused of repeatedly stabbing his brother-in-law at a children’s birthday party, resulting in the alleged victim having his spleen removed, was granted bail after spending months in custody.

Jaspreet Singh Mavi, 37, pleaded not guilty to a charge of intentionally inflicting grievous bodily harm over the allegations.

He and his brother-in-law had been drinking alcohol at the birthday party on the evening of 10 March 2024 when they began yelling at each other during an argument, police allege in court documents.

This allegedly escalated to Mr Mavi threatening his brother-in-law with a kitchen knife, telling him, “I’m going to stab you”.

Another party attendee took the brother-in-law into a garage to separate the pair. However, it is alleged that when this person was closing the garage door, Mr Mavi charged at his brother-in-law and stabbed him four to five times in his body.

People ran to help the brother-in-law and started packing his wounds with bedsheets to stem the bleeding while Mr Mavi allegedly ran to his car and fled.

Police were called about the stabbing, with one caller saying, “There’s a lot of bleeding”.

Paramedics took the brother-in-law to hospital in a critical condition before his condition worsened and he was rushed into emergency lifesaving surgery, which resulted in his spleen being removed. A doctor later told police he had four stab wounds to his abdomen.

Mr Mavi handed himself in to police the next morning and he was refused bail the following day.

He applied for bail again in the ACT Magistrates Court on Tuesday (2 July) after spending almost four months in custody.

His barrister, Steven Whybrow, argued numerous bail conditions could be put in place, including having his client wear an ankle monitor.

He said the brother-in-law had stabilised, and it was proposed his client could live in Melbourne, which would reduce the chance of interaction with the former.

Mr Whybrow also said his client, who has an Indian passport, had no prior criminal history and had lived in Australia since 2008.

Prosecutor Samuel Carmichael opposed bail, alleging it had been a repeated stabbing and the attack occurred in front of witnesses, which had seemingly not deterred Mr Mavi.

Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker said the question was whether granting bail would put others at risk, but there were no indications that he was likely to behave as alleged again in the future.

She said his greatest risk factor was alcohol use, but he had agreed not to drink, while she described the proposed ankle monitor condition as “overkill”.

Bail was granted on conditions including Mr Mavi live in Victoria, not enter the ACT except for legal purposes, surrender his passport and not drink alcohol.

The matter was adjourned to 26 July.