A real estate agent and former special forces soldier has stared down a journalist while leaving court, where the offender escaped time behind bars for an "entirely unprovoked" glassing attack.
It's not the first time Eduardo Ernesto Duran, 40, has had eyes for the media. He intensely glared at this reporter before a judge entered the courtroom for his sentencing hearing last week.
The ACT Supreme Court heard on Monday Duran's real estate business had been affected by media reporting of the assault.
His Instagram page cites him as the owner of Canberra's Distinct Property Management.
The Nicaraguan-born man received a wholly suspended 14-month jail sentence and was ordered to be of good behaviour for two years.
Justice Louise Taylor described the way Duran acted towards his victim, who required stitches and eventually surgery due to a facial scar becoming infected, as "appalling", "shocking and rather brutal".
The Canberra Times previously revealed details of the CCTV-captured attack, which took place at Duran's wife's 20-year school reunion on September 17, 2022, at Fenway Public House in Woden.
Duran attacked the victim, a former teacher of the school coincidentally present at the pub, in the middle of a group conversation.
The assault involved Duran unexpectedly placing the former teacher in a forceful headlock twice, pulling on his scarf and sipping from his drink.
Soon after, Duran held the back of the victim's neck with one hand before punching a glass into the former teacher's face "with considerable force".
"It is beyond doubt the victim did not provoke the attack," Justice Taylor said.
The offender "casually" walked out of the pub and did nothing to aid his victim. He told police he had consumed 12-15 drinks before the incident.
The court previously heard a scar left by one of the victim's two facial injuries was "a persistent reminder of the violence perpetrated against him".
The judge said Duran, who did two overseas tours in his 12 years as an Australian soldier, made a strong case for "successful rehabilitation".
The man has reportedly "intensively engaged in psychological intervention" and decreased his alcohol consumption without the court's direction.
"Full-time imprisonment is not necessary," Justice Taylor said.
The judge said the man, who told a psychiatrist report author he viewed his behaviour "as a personal failure", had shown remorse and insight.
Duran has not spent any days in custody for his crime.
