A former bikie boss has had his jail term cut after successfully challenging the severity of his sentence for belting a man with a baseball bat during a bungled extortion attempt.
But David Micheal Evans still has no pathway out of prison until at least March 2025.
Evans, 35, was found guilty following a judge-alone trial last year of unlawful confinement, making a demand accompanied by a threat, and intentionally inflicting actual bodily harm.
Justice John Burns found the former president of the Satudarah outlaw motorcycle gang's Canberra chapter had acted as "muscle" for underworld matriarch Sharon Ann Stott during an unsuccessful effort to force money out of a drug user in January 2019.
Fresh from carrying out a savage home invasion together a week earlier, the pair went to the Kambah home of small-time heroin dealer Catherine Howsan on the day in question.
They found a vulnerable drug user there and detained him in a chair for about an hour.
Stott demanded payment of a fictitious $20,000 debt as Evans stood menacingly nearby with a baseball bat to encourage compliance.
The victim eventually panicked and ran, prompting Evans to respond with a flurry of blows that only ended when the victim grabbed a knife and managed to chase him away.
Justice Burns ultimately sentenced Evans to four years and four months in jail.
He also added two years and four months to the former demolition worker's non-parole period.
Evans was already behind bars for other crimes at the time of his sentencing in October last year.
The 35-year-old subsequently challenged the severity of his sentence, representing himself earlier this month at an ACT Court of Appeal hearing that lasted a matter of minutes.
He did not make any submissions but one of the appeal judges, Justice David Mossop, indicated the Crown had "conceded there should be some adjustments to [Evans'] sentence".
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The same judge also granted Evans leave to add a ground of appeal that stated Justice Burns had erred by finding the offending involved a pre-existing plan.
Justice Mossop, who considered the appeal with Justice Tom Thawley and Acting Justice Richard Refshauge, handed down the court's decision on Friday morning.
He set aside the sentence imposed by Justice Burns, then resentenced Evans to an aggregate term of three-and-a-half years in jail for the offences in question.
In light of Evans' other sentences, he will not begin serving this time until late 2024.
The appeal judges also shaved four months off the 35-year-old's non-parole period, which had been set to expire in July 2025.
The court is yet to make its reasons publicly available.
Stott, who also won an appeal against her initial sentence, is serving two-and-a-half years behind bars for her role in the incident. She will become eligible for parole this November.
