Braddon man Jordan Sharma, who drunkenly assaulted another man in the early hours of New Year's Day 2016, has lost an appeal against his sentence and returned to prison until August.
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He had originally pleaded not guilty, but later changed his plea.
On July 22, Sharma was convicted of recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm and sentenced to two years and three months imprisonment, with nine months to be served full time.
He appealed, and was bailed on October 26 pending the outcome.
It was about 2.47am on January 1, 2016, when Sharma was 20 and a student at ANU, when he punched another man who was standing outside the Supa 24 convenience store on Mort Street in Braddon.
The man fell to the ground, and had to have surgery to insert four screws and a titanium plate into his jaw, which was then wired shut for two weeks. He had to miss months of work.
Police released CCTV footage of the assault which was widely distributed on social media, and Sharma handed himself into police.
The basis for Sharma's appeal, heard on February 23, was that the sentence of full time imprisonment was manifestly excessive.
He had argued that the sentencing judge, Justice Michael Elkaim, had not recognised intensive correction orders as a sentence of imprisonment or considered their punitive or deterrent potential.
Intensive corrections orders, introduced last year, are served in the community under supervision and with strict conditions.
Sharma's defence had also referred to three other decisions of the court for comparable incidents and injuries, where all three were given sentences which did not include full time custody.
But on February 23 this year, Chief Justice Helen Murrell and Justices Darryl Rangiah and Anthony Walmsley, sitting as the ACT Court of Appeal, dismissed Sharma's appeal.
The judges' written reasons were published on March 16.
Justice Elkaim faced a difficult task, the judges said, noting Sharma's youth and prior good character, that weighed in his favour.
But the judges said Justice Elkaim did consider and then reject the idea Sharma's sentence should be served in the community.
"His Honour did explain why he considered the sentence should not be served by intensive correction order ... he considered society's abhorrence to such attacks, the need to emphasise to young people the inappropriateness of consuming large amounts of alcohol and drugs, and that in cases such as this one, a very high degree of deterrence, meaning general deterrence, is necessary," the appeal judges said in their reasons.
They confirmed the sentence imposed by Justice Elkaim, but ordered it begin on November 19 and end on February 18, 2019.
The sentence is to be suspended from August 18.
