A man who crashed his getaway skateboard after a failed attempt to rob a Braddon restaurant with a blood-filled syringe has been sentenced to more than six years jail.
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Benjamin Roy Flowers, 38, was sentenced on Tuesday for two separate offences, including a Swiss Army knife stabbing near the Northbourne Flats in 2010, and the attempted robbery of Delissio Brasserie last year.
Flowers was drunk and had taken Ritalin tablets when he entered Delissio in late October.
He attempted to disguise his face from staff, while wielding a blood-filled syringe and demanding they hand over money.
Flowers went to the register and attempted to open it, before he was confronted and chased from the restaurant by staff members.
Delissio staff saw him go into bushes, where he changed his clothes, got on a skateboard, and travelled south along Northbourne Avenue.
But Flowers was arrested after he crashed his skateboard while attempting to cross a road.
At the time of the attempted robbery, Flowers was at liberty on a deferred sentence order, which was imposed after he stabbed two men with a Swiss Army knife in March 2010.
The stabbing occurred as the two victims walked towards Northbourne Flats after a night of drinking.
They asked Flowers for a light for their cigarettes, and then invited him to come and drink with them.
For reasons unknown, one of the victims attacked Flowers, and the pair wrestled, before the second victim intervened.
A short time later, also for reasons unknown, Flowers followed the men and attacked them with the knife.
He first stabbed the man that had intervened to help break up the earlier fight.
He stabbed both men during the altercation, leaving one with serious injuries.
Flowers pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm and actual bodily harm, but had his sentence deferred by Chief Justice Terence Higgins.
The deferral was designed to allow Flowers to participate in rehabilitation for his drug and alcohol problems, and to receive mental health support.
The attempted robbery occurred four weeks later.
Chief Justice Higgins sentenced Flowers to six and a half years jail, with a non-parole period of 18 months.
He told Flowers there was still hope for him, but that he needed a "great deal' of therapy to overcome his problems with drugs and alcohol.
Flowers had a stable and loving upbringing, the court heard, but began cannabis when he was 13, amphetamines when he was 17, and heroin when he was 25.
His drug use had led to some brain damage, and he suffers from depression and ADHD.
