A man was driven "by the honourable intention" of protecting his family when he attacked his uncle with a shovel, severing part of his finger and breaking his arm, a judge has said.
The man, aged in his early 20s and who cannot be named for legal reasons, was found to have used excessive force when acting in self defence.
In an ACT Supreme Court judgment published on Wednesday, May 20, he was handed a six-month suspended prison sentence with an 18-month good behaviour order.
This means he will serve the sentence in the community rather than behind bars.
Justice Louise Taylor said that while he "was driven by an honourable intention to protect his mother, sister, grandmother and property from violent conduct; it was his execution of that intention which saw him fall foul of the law".
The man pleaded guilty on the first day of his judge-alone trial to causing grievous bodily harm.
The attack dated back to January 2022, when the victim came to the man's home, which he shared with his mother and sister. His grandmother, the victim's mother, was also present.
The victim came to the front gate of the property, holding two large rocks in his hands and threatened to throw them at the offender's family members.
The uncle was told to leave but he refused and smashed the rocks into smaller pieces before throwing them at his family.
The offender then picked up two brick-sized rocks and the two men started throwing rocks at each other.
When the offender's mother passed him a shovel he started to hit his uncle with it.
A neighbour heard the fight, ran down the road to the property and told the offender to stop.
The neighbour noticed the victim was bleeding heavily and had a broken arm. He called an ambulance and the victim spent ten days in hospital and required multiple surgeries.
The victim suffered a dislocated elbow with multiple fractures, a partly severed finger, as well as cuts to his head and hip.
A few months after the attack, the offender fell asleep while driving and drove his car 30 metres off a cliff.
He suffered a traumatic brain injury as a result, leaving him with mental impairments.
Justice Taylor accepted the man "was acting to protect himself, his mother, sister and grandmother and that the decision to physically engage the victim came about quickly and without significant forethought on the offender's part."
He told a report author he was "scared" and "panicked" in the face of a "violent and aggressive" threat.
The victim died sometime afterwards, unrelated to the attack. His daughter read an impact statement to the court in his stead.
She described the shock, fear and helplessness she felt when she learned of the attack and said her memories of his injuries "play in [her] mind constantly".
Justice Taylor found the offender did not present a risk to the community and had excellent prospects of rehabilitation.
