A Canberra man who went after his neighbour with an axe while he was in isolation with COVID-19 has been sentenced to nearly four years' jail in the ACT Supreme Court.
Jayke Fleury, 36, pleaded guilty to a raft of charges from several different incidents, including drug trafficking and assaulting a police officer.
The court heard how in September last year, as he was isolating with COVID-19, Fleury threw something through a window from his upstairs apartment, sending shards of glass into the courtyard below.
When his neighbour protested and asked who would clean up the mess, Fleury went down to the man's apartment and broke in, before swinging an axe at him several times.
The court heard the man fended off the attack with a baseball bat, before fleeing his home.
Police negotiated with Fleury throughout the night until 3am, to get him to give himself up.
Offender promises to rehabilitate
Fleury had already been facing serious drug charges after a police raid on another home which uncovered more than a kilogram of cannabis with a potential street value of between $5,000 and $20,000.
The haul included dried cannabis branches in his wardrobe, and around 700 grams of cannabis in a vacuum-sealed bag, along with smaller bags of the drug and more than $1,000 in cash.
During sentencing, Justice Verity McWilliam noted Fleury had claimed he was growing cannabis for his own personal use, and the same would not be illegal anymore due to recent changes in the law.
"The offender claimed that he preferred to not have contact with fellow drug users or dealers, hence the desire to have his own supply of cannabis," she said.
Fleury also wrote a letter to the court pledging to change his ways.
"I want to no longer be negatively defined as a product of my environment but rather have my environment defined as a product of me, and for all the right reasons."
He said he did not "aspire to be a millionaire or cure cancer", but wanted to be the best father he could be for his young daughter, and the best partner to her mother.
The court heard Fleury had long suffered from emotional problems and had used drugs and alcohol to compensate.
Justice McWilliam said it was clear that alcohol had been a factor in some of the offending, but that both his brother and partner had seen him make efforts to address his addictions.
"He has made a relapse prevention plan and self-management plan, identifying his triggers, red-flag behaviours, coping strategies, support people, and options for support programs once released from custody."
Fleury has been sentenced to three years and nine months in prison for all of the crimes.
But the court has imposed a non-parole period of only 23 months to help him seek rehabilitation sooner rather than later.
Fleury will be eligible for release next year.
