A convicted paedophile fighting against extra jail time should have a ''sickening'' attack that cost him an eye taken into account, a court has heard.
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And fresh details have emerged of how prison authorities responded to the brutal assault on Ian Harold King, 69, when he came into contact with another prisoner.
The former first-grade Queensland cricketer was sentenced to 12 years' jail last year for sexually abusing young boys in the 1980s and 1990s.
The Crown, led by prosecutor Margaret Jones, is fighting in the ACT Court of Appeal for a heavier sentence, arguing that trial judge, Justice Richard Refshauge, erred in his calculations.
But King's lawyer, barrister Ken Archer, has argued against more jail time, saying the sentence was appropriate, and did not show ''undue leniency''.
Mr Archer said that if the court upheld the appeal and decided to re-sentence King, it must take into account a ''sickening'' prison attack in which King's eye spilled onto the floor.
The attack occurred when King, a prisoner under strict protection, was allowed to come into contact with a mainstream prisoner.
King lost his eye and requires reconstructive surgery as a result of his injuries.
The court heard from Alexander Maconochie Centre operations manager Gordon James Collins about the attack and what had been done to ensure it did not occur again.
Mr Collins said prisoners under strict protection no longer came into contact with the general prison population.
He said a fence had been put up around the strict protection building and there was an extra guard to escort protected prisoners around the prison.
Mr Collins told the court that staffing problems meant parts of the prison had to be locked down.
Mr Archer suggested that prisoners under strict protection, who required extra resources, would be more likely to be locked in their cells in the case of staff shortages.
He argued that this, coupled with King's poor health, age and lack of access to education and other programs in the jail, made a custodial sentence more difficult.
He also argued that King's difficult and violent upbringing had left him ''very much a delusional person'' with a ''profoundly broken personality''.
Mr Archer said King now had a bizarre articulation between sexual identity and sports performance.
King's mental illness and significant social disadvantage should be taken into account, should the court decide to re-sentence him, he said.
The court has reserved its decision.
