A man who committed a violent home invasion while wielding a machete has told a judge, "I deserve to be here, my actions were terrible", while sitting in a court dock.
Kleantis Eric Stasinos, 31, faced the ACT Supreme Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to aggravated burglary, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, damage property and common assault.
Stasinos' frank admission that he needed punishment came during a relatively unusual interaction between himself and Justice Verity McWilliam, when the pair spoke openly during the man's sentencing.
"Lots of other people in jail said they couldn't wait to get out, but when I first came in, I said I deserved jail and rehab," the offender told the court.
"It was just stupid. I don't know why I took the machete, I would never have used it."
Prosecutor Chamil Wanigaratne described Stasinos as "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde", when comparing the man sitting in court and the one shown bashing down a door on CCTV.
"It almost seems like two different people," Mr Wanigaratne said.
"It is quite unusual to come across an offender who says they deserve to be punished or be in prison."
Agreed facts state Stasinos entered a Giralang home about 3.30am on November 30, 2022, and walked into a bedroom, where a man and woman were sleeping, waving a machete and shouting.
With fear for her safety, the female victim took the offender to the back garage where her father, who Stasinos was looking for, was sleeping.
When they reached the garage, the offender struck the older victim in the face and rendered him temporarily unconscious.
Stasinos would accidentally strike the female victim's face with his forearm, which he immediately apologised for, while the woman tried to block the offender from hitting her father.
Still being struck by Stasinos, the male victim began bleeding from his nose and mouth.
When the woman told the offender she was calling police, he responded with words to the effect of, "police are on my side, they're not going to help you", before leaving.
The court heard Stasinos had committed the offences over allegedly stolen car parts.
Less than an hour before the aggravated burglary, he was also caught on CCTV loudly banging on a Dickson home's front door, which he damaged.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, the female victim said the home invasion had left her "stripped to the bone, completely exposed and frightened to the core".
"I have been unable to sleep and if I am able to fall asleep, I will wake around the time of the invasion as I am constantly afraid it will happen again," she said.
The victim moved out of the Giralang home shortly after the crime.
Her father said he had felt "overwhelmed with anxiety and fear" since the assault, which caused his eye to swell so much he could no longer see out of it in the following days.
Defence lawyer Ellie Wallis described the offending as "quite bizarre, quire unsophisticated" and having been done while the man was intoxicated.
Ms Wallis said her client had withdrawn his consent for the case to be heard in the drug and alcohol sentencing list, which could led to a community-based sentence.
"He's done some reflecting over the past few months and decided the ACT is not going to be a good place for his rehabilitation," she said.
The court heard the offender wanted to relocate to Queensland.
Again speaking directly with Justice McWilliam, Stasinos said he couldn't escape his substance abuse in the territory.
"I've got too many friends who pull me back into it," he said.
"When I'm intoxicated, I'm a different person."
While Mr Wanigaratne gave Stasinos credit for insight into his own crime and guilty pleas, the prosecutor said intoxication did not excuse the "terrifying" behaviour and denunciation was vital.
"It's curious that a person who is obviously an intelligent man would carry out such thuggish, criminal behaviour like this for almost no reason at all," he said.
Justice McWilliam, who will reserve her decision until Friday next week, told the offender: "We'll try and craft a sentence that will allow you to pursue rehabilitation."
Stasinos has already spent 103 days in custody for the offences.
