NSW man jailed over Christmas Eve stabbing

A mentally ill man who stabbed a woman outside a Christmas mass because she was a "white woman" has been sentenced to at least four years and three months in prison.

Karla Quinn, 44, was waiting for the midnight church service at Potts Point in Sydney's east on Christmas Eve 2013 when she was stabbed in the stomach with a kitchen knife.

Morris Macindoe fled but was later apprehended by police and charged with wounding a person with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

In sentencing him on Monday, Judge Andrew Haesler said Macindoe suffered from schizophrenia, which was exacerbated when he took the drug methylamphetamine or "ice".

In this state, voices would "take over" and the 39-year-old had a propensity to "randomly attack women", Judge Haesler said.

Macindoe had told police that on the night he attacked Ms Quinn, due to comments he heard on TV, he wanted to "stab a white woman".

"Just a little stab in the gut so she would survive," Macindoe said.

Sydney's District Court heard Macindoe had already served time for a "chillingly similar incident" in 2006 involving a woman at the NSW Art Gallery.

Judge Haesler said Macindoe, who pleaded guilty to the Christmas Eve attack, had written a "moving" letter to the court, describing his regret and loneliness.

"I feel terrible about my actions and I pray and hope I never do this again," Macindoe wrote.

"I know I must accept treatment and remain drug free.

"I don't want to be as lonely as I was on Christmas 2013."

Of the victim, Judge Haesler said: "She was lucky in the sense that the injuries were not as serious as they could have been."

Macindoe was sentenced to a maximum of seven and a half years in jail and will be eligible for release in March 2018.