Family of man who stabbed brother in Adelaide park tell him he is ‘dead to us’
The man who carried out a “brutal and sustained” attack on his brother sat emotionless as family members told him he was “dead to them”.
On April 1 last year, Kane Swift launched a frenzied attack on his brother Raymond Drechsler in a park north of Adelaide.
At previous hearings, Swift pleaded guilty to aggravated charges of willful harm and recklessly causing harm in relation to the attack.
On Tuesday, Stoney, 36, faced the dock as family members described the impact of the attack and their wish to never see him again.
Among them, one of his children told him: “This is the last time you will hear my voice… you are dead to me.”
His father also read a series of statements on behalf of himself and several members of his family, including Swift’s teenage nephews.
“As far as I’m concerned, my son Kane passed away on April 1, 2025,” he said.
“There is no turning back from what you have done.
“You tried to tear this family apart, but all you did was make it stronger.”
The shocking attack in Elizabeth Park stemmed from a “trivial” argument about moving a table at a family property, the Supreme Court of South Australia has heard.
This led to Swift attacking Mr Drechsler, brandishing two knives, and then returning with a metal bar to continue the attack as he sat crouched under a tree.
As a result of the incident, Mr. Drechsler suffered life-threatening injuries.
Meanwhile, the court previously heard Swift’s mother, Lisa Swift, pulled her hair from her scalp as she tried to break up the fight.
Reading his own victim impact statement, Mr Drechsler said the brutal attack had stirred up other members of the family and they were united in anger at what he had done.
“You may have given me a life of pain, but you gave me more than I will ever know; you gave me my family back,” he said.
Throughout seven emotional statements, Swift did not once look up at the dock floor.
His legal representative, Noah Redmond, accepted his client would face a long prison sentence but called for the sentences to be served concurrently.
“This was not a pre-planned, cold-blooded attack,” he said.
Swift will be sentenced on July 13.
