An enraged Canberra teenager could have killed a man who was trying to calm him down when he stabbed him in the thigh with a "shiv-like" blade, a magistrate has said.
Richardson man Benjamin Quirk-Buckley, 18, was released from jail on Friday after serving just shy of six months behind bars on remand.
Magistrate James Lawton sentenced him to time served for driving a stolen vehicle, driving unlicensed, common assault, and using a carriage service to threaten serious harm.
On the most serious charge of intentionally wounding, Mr Lawton handed Quirk-Buckley a two-year intensive correction order.
Quirk-Buckley pleaded guilty to all the charges, which stemmed from incidents in December 2021, on what was due to be the first day of a contested hearing.
Prosecutor Verity Griffin told the ACT Magistrates Court on Friday that Quirk-Buckley's offending had begun with "coercive and controlling" attempts to locate his then-partner.
The teenager sent the young woman what Mr Lawton described as "a number of abusive messages", which included: "Wait till I see you I'm gonna bash you this time you fake ass".
"That's it I'm gonna hurt you bad," another said.
The defendant's partner, who was at a party with her friends, did not want to come home and a two-hour argument ensued.
Quirk-Buckley told her he would steal a car in which to come and get her, adding that he was "legit bout to ho bash someone" in order to take their vehicle.
He also called her about 14 times and threatened to "stab someone", and to kill her and her dogs.
In the early hours of the following morning, a Holden Commodore was stolen from a Calwell home and driven by Quirk-Buckley to Latham, where witnesses described it "screeching down the street" towards his partner and her group of friends.
He got out of the car and yelled at his then-partner, then pushed one of her female friends when she attempted to intervene.
Quirk-Buckley returned briefly to the stolen car and retrieved what was described in court documents as "a blue-coloured serrated weapon with a shiv-like blade".
He then went back to the group and made stabbing motions with the weapon, which had a metallic shine.
A male friend of Quirk-Buckley's then-partner tried to calm the 18-year-old down but his efforts failed and the defendant lunged at him with the blade, stabbing him in the thigh.
The pair then fell into a bush, where the stabbing victim started bleeding from a two-centimetre puncture wound.
Following this, Quirk-Buckley grabbed his screaming partner by the shirt and dragged her until she broke free.
He was arrested later that morning after leaving the scene in the stolen car, which police found in the Richardson Primary School car park.
Quirk-Buckley's lawyer, Benjamin Rutzou, told the court on Friday that the 18-year-old had been "out of control" while affected by methamphetamine at the time in question.
Mr Rutzou said the teenager had been abstinent from drugs whilst on remand, and urged Mr Lawton to impose a sentence that would help Quirk-Buckley address addiction issues.
Mr Lawton ultimately agreed to do so, but only after noting the stabbing "could've killed" the victim had the blade come into contact with an artery.
The magistrate warned Quirk-Buckley he was "at a crossroads", urging him to take advantage of the fact his supportive parents were still willing to give him a home and a job.
"If you keep stuffing up like this, you'll just keep going to jail for longer and longer and longer," Mr Lawton told Quirk-Buckley.
