A drug dealer has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail after a near-fatal attack in which he repeatedly stabbed a man with such ferocity the knife bent at a 90-degree angle.
But it may not be long before Christian Spencer Fairclough is back on the streets, with the terms of the 37-year-old's backdated sentence allowing him to apply for parole immediately.
Fairclough was sentenced in the ACT Supreme Court on Thursday. He had previously pleaded guilty to intentionally and unlawfully using a knife against a person in circumstances likely to endanger human life or cause grievous bodily harm.
Justice John Burns told the court that in February 2016, Fairclough went to the victim's unit in Belconnen to sell cannabis.
The deal went pear-shaped and Fairclough was robbed at knifepoint, then detained by the victim as others left with the drugs.
Justice Burns said Fairclough, while being detained, grabbed a knife from the floor and took the victim by surprise.
The judge said he accepted that Fairclough, fearing for his life, had initially used the knife against the victim in self-defence. But what ultimately transpired went "well beyond" reasonable self-defence, and had left the victim needing life-saving surgery for "potentially deadly wounds".
Justice Burns said the victim had suffered 16 knife wounds to areas including his scalp, face, torso, arms and hands. Seven of the wounds were to the man's back, the judge said, suggesting Fairclough had continued to attack well after the victim had been overcome.
Fairclough stabbed the victim with such ferocity that the knife he used bent at a right angle, according to court documents.
In sentencing Fairclough, Justice Burns said the offender had shown little in the way of genuine remorse and did not appear to appreciate the seriousness of the crime.
The judge said while he accepted the case involved excessive self-defence, aspects of Fairclough's version of events were still "unsatisfactory" and "highly improbable".
Fairclough had claimed the victim chased him all the way to his car after the stabbing, despite police arriving to find a trail of blood that led nowhere near that far.
"You have a tendency to exaggerate and embellish the facts," Justice Burns told Fairclough.
The judge said Fairclough was also chiefly responsible for several delays that had resulted in the case dragging on for more than four years.
The delays included sentencing dates being vacated because Fairclough, while on bail following the stabbing, got himself locked up in Victoria for attacking an elderly man. Fairclough also tried last year to withdraw his guilty plea for the stabbing.
With all the necessary obstacles cleared, Justice Burns was able to impose a three-and-a-half-year jail sentence on Thursday.
Taking into account the time Fairclough had already served on remand for the stabbing, Justice Burns ordered that the sentence be backdated to begin in March 2018.
The judge set a non-parole period starting at the same time and expiring on Thursday, making Fairclough eligible to immediately apply for release.
