An aspiring exercise scientist lived in "horrible" conditions with a woman before punching her in the head while holding a needle, with a court told he was sometimes only able to get food through a hole in the door.
Liam Keogh Drummond escaped further time behind bars when he was sentenced in the ACT Magistrates Court on Tuesday to 120 days in jail.
The 24-year-old had already served all but a week while on remand, and Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker suspended the last seven days in favour of a 12-month good behaviour order.
Drummond pleaded guilty last month to charges of common assault and possessing an offensive weapon with intent, following an October 2020 incident at the Belconnen home he once shared with the victim.
He admitted to punching the woman in the head while holding a needle, before briefly grabbing a syringe from his pocket as police tried to arrest him.
Drummond's lawyer, Andrew Byrnes, conceded on Tuesday that the assault was aggravated by the holding of the needle, though there was no evidence the sharp object caused the victim any injury.
He told the court his client and the victim had been "a bad influence on each other", claiming the victim had supplied Drummond with illicit drugs.
"Mr Drummond has a lengthy problem with cannabis [and] ice," he said.
But Mr Byrnes said Drummond was currently sober and "the best he's been in a number of years", having even prepared his own relapse prevention plan as he worked to put crime behind him.
"He has had the weight of the justice system over him for the past few years," Mr Byrnes said.
"He knows he's going to start testing the friendship of the court [if he keeps offending]."
Prosecutor Sam Bargwanna said the presence of needles was worrying in this case because they had the potential to be particularly dangerous weapons, capable of causing injury and transmitting diseases.
Of the assault, he said: "It is a punch. It is to the head ... which is a vulnerable part of the body."
But Mr Bargwanna noted that Drummond did seem to be doing "very well" in the community since being granted bail.
He also said the victim did not appear to be "a saint", though she was no less entitled than others to the protection of the law.
Picking up on this theme, Ms Walker said in sentencing that material before the court suggested that the victim had subjected Drummond to some abuse when the pair lived together.
She said there were claims that Drummond was sometimes effectively locked inside and only able to access food if visitors gave it to him through "a small hole in the door".
The court heard that Drummond had also been a victim of serious crime, including in his youth, leading to mental health issues that he had attempted to deal with through the use of drugs.
In sentencing, Ms Walker noted that Drummond had had "many awful experiences".
She told the 24-year-old his recent progress towards staying clean suggested he may have reached "a turning point", and it was now up to him to "create a brighter future".
"The role of drugs in terms of your offending cannot be understated," she said.
