A teenager who prosecutors say was one of two intruders who stormed a Kaleen flat armed with a knife, metal pole and baseball bat, in a "terrifying" home invasion that left a man with a stab wound to his back and a punctured lung, has been granted bail.
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Sugimatatihuna Bernard Gabriel Mena, 19, was arrested outside the ACT Magistrates Court on Wednesday and charged with aggravated burglary, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm.
He did not enter pleas when he faced court seeking bail on Thursday.
Court documents said two men and a woman were watching television when two men entered their Kaleen flat shouting "don't f---ing move" about 7.30pm on May 8.
The two men tried to push the alleged offenders out the door.
It's alleged the intruder who was armed with a knife started stabbing at one of the men. He tried to jab his stomach before slashing his thumb and forearm as the man tried to wrestle the knife from his grip.
The man grabbed the bat and started hitting the alleged offender until he fled. The other intruder wrestled with the second man before he also ran out of the flat.
The men chased the two alleged offenders down the street before the second man noticed he felt hazy and dizzy.
The other two victims noticed his shirt was covered in blood and realised he'd been stabbed.
They took the man inside and laid him down on the floor. He recalled feeling disoriented, thirsty and short of breath, court documents said.
His father arrived to find blood gushing from a wound on his back and used a tea towel to try to stop the bleeding.
Paramedics arrived and took the man to hospital, where he was treated for the knife wound, a punctured lung and a cut to his face that required stitches. He needed surgery to drain and fix his lung.
A forensics team took blood samples and seized the knife, bat and pole from the flat. Police said they used DNA evidence to link Mr Mena to the scene.
He was arrested after police recognised him near the Civic court.
In an interview, he told police he had been "jumped" at a nearby sports oval three days earlier and was told his attackers lived at the Kaleen property. He hadn't reported the alleged assault because it was linked to drugs, he said.
Court documents said Mr Mena told police he went to the flat with his co-accused, who police haven't identified yet, because he wanted to retaliate.
He had been hit with the baseball bat, felt blood on his face and tried to crawl out of the flat before he was killed, he said.
Prosecutors opposed bail based on a risk he would reoffend, endanger the safety of the alleged victims or interfere with witnesses.
"This was, quite frankly, a terrifying incident of a home invasion," the prosecutor said.
Mr Mena's defence lawyer Andrew Fraser acknowledged he had been sentenced for a separate incident where a man was unlawfully confined in April but had not committed other violent offences in the five months since the alleged home invasion.
Prosecutors said that incident involved about eight people and a man had been waterboarded, but Mr Fraser said the accused had no role in the alleged waterboarding.
He said the accused was a carpentry apprentice who lived with his mother in Franklin.
Special Magistrate Margaret Hunter told Mr Mena she was faced with a difficult decision. "You're only 19 and you've all of a sudden got a huge criminal record," she said.
She said the allegations were "very serious" but noted he was young and had not spent a lot of time in custody.
"I don't like sending 19-year-olds to the [Alexander Maconochie Centre] because they become involved with hardened criminals."
Ms Hunter granted bail on strict conditions that included a requirement he report regularly to police, comply with an 8pm curfew and avoid drugs.
The case returns to court on October 26.
