The South Australian Supreme Court has sentenced a man who killed his friend of 30 years during a drunken "petty argument" about a whisky bottle to nine years behind bars.
Johnny William Walters, 49, was acquitted of murder, but found guilty of the manslaughter of his friend John "Jock" McLellan.
Earlier, the court heard the pair had got into a drunken argument at a Gilberton unit in 2020, after Walters took a sip of Mr McLellan's whisky bottle.
The prosecution earlier submitted Walters committed a lengthy, sustained beating over the course of several hours on his friend who had emphysema.
Justice Laura Stein accepted that Walters delivered at least multiple punches to Mr McLellan's head, but could not determine the length of time the attack lasted.
The court heard Mr McLellan was older than Walters, in poor health and was also intoxicated at the time of the attack.
Justice Stein said Walters was not entitled to leniency given his previous convictions which had not deterred him from reoffending.
"You have been convicted on more than 30 occasions on offences of assault and have received sentences of imprisonment [for] assault on at least eight occasions," Justice Stein said.
The judge said Walters had previously pleaded guilty, in 2019, to punching a tourist in the face, striking the back of a woman he was in a relationship with and committing two aggravated assaults against a police officer.
"It is evident from the number of offences and the amount of time you spent in custody in total that you had a lengthy history, including violent offending when you are under the influence of alcohol or illicit substances," Justice Stein said.
The judge said there was a need to protect the community and deter others from such offending which she said happened too often in the community.
"I do not consider your offending was at the lower end of seriousness," she said.
The court heard Walters had apologised to the court and the community for his actions.
"I accept Mr McLellan was your friend, I accept your remorse is genuine and you have to live with the knowledge that by your actions you caused the death of your friend," Justice Stein said.
The court earlier heard that the pair had their own "demons" and a "disposition towards aggression" as both had come from backgrounds of dysfunction and abuse.
Justice Stein also acknowledged Walters had grown up in an Aboriginal community in poverty, and had a childhood marred by abuse and violence.
She said Walters was regularly beaten as a child and developed aggression and substance abuse issues.
The judge refused to accept that there were any exceptional circumstances in Walters's case.
After calculating the time he had already been in custody and a prior suspended sentence that had to be added to his sentence, the earliest Walters could be released would be in early 2030.
