A man had a "grossly excessive response" when he choked a woman unconscious during a heated debate over a gaming console, a judge has ruled.
"All this over an argument over who owned the Xbox," Acting Justice Peter Berman said on Tuesday.
Thomas Linsley, 19, appeared before the ACT Supreme Court via audio-visual link, in what appeared to be a car, to be handed a wholly suspended 16-month jail sentence.
The Queensland-based mechanic previously pleaded guilty to choking, rendering someone insensible or unconscious, just days before his trial was meant to begin.
"Tom strangled me and tried to kill me," the victim told someone following the incident.
Linsley was leaving the woman's home early last year when he picked up an Xbox to take with him.
The pair argued over who owned the console before the victim pushed the offender in the shoulders.
He responded by taking her into a bedroom and choking her on a bed.
The argument continued before Linsley grabbed the woman by the throat again and pushed her against a wall, causing her to "black out".
When she regained consciousness a few seconds later, the victim realised she was on the ground and the offender was still choking her.
"[The victim] thought she was going to die and told the offender that she could not breathe," agreed facts stated.
Linsley got off the woman and she soon fled.
Acting Justice Berman said a "considerable amount of force must have been used" to render the woman unconscious.
Despite no victim impact statement being tendered to the court, the judge said the woman "would have suffered psychological harm" as well as physical harm from the violent assault.
Linsley entered a relatively late guilty plea on a Friday before his trial was meant to begin the following Monday.
This, Acting Justice Berman said, had a "limited utilitarian value and says little about whether the offender is sorry about what he did".
The judge did accept the defence submission that Linsley was a "significantly different person" now than when he had committed the crime.
"He says he is not proud of his actions and does not want to repeat them," Acting Justice Berman said.
Ultimately, the judge decided handing the offender a suspended sentence was the "least worst option".
Linsley has spent two days in custody related to the offending.
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