Convicted killer Kai Yuen's defence barrister has told a Canberra court that even one week on top of his 28-year jail sentence would be a significant punishment for her client.
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Yuen appeared in the ACT Supreme Court on Wednesday for a sentencing hearing over the 2017 stabbing of a fellow inmate at the Alexander Maconochie Centre.
WARNING: BELOW FOOTAGE CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT
The victim was left with cuts to his face, chest, abdominal area, legs and arms and required plastic surgery after the fight with Yuen.
At a previous appearance the court was shown graphic CCTV footage of the fight, in which both men are wildly throwing punches at each other and the victim can be seen wiping blood from his face and leg.
Yuen is serving 28 years in prison for the murder of his former friend Brendan Scott Welsh and an earlier jail bashing.
On Wednesday the court heard Yuen had been kept in segregation from other prisoners, confined to his cell for all but a few hours a day, for most of last year before being returned to the mainstream system of the prison.
He has retained his classification as a maximum-security prisoner.
Yuen's defence barrister Theresa Warwick told the court his time spent in segregation should be taken into consideration when he is sentenced.
She said it amounted to extra-curial punishment, where an offender suffers some sort of loss or punishment because of the offence, but not one imposed by the court.
She called for the judge to "be as frugal as possible" in sentencing Yuen.
Prosecutor Katie McCann disputed the claim of extra-curial punishment, saying the prison made decisions in relation to prisoners being segregated for a number of reasons including managing the whole prison population and also for safety considerations.
Ms Warwick said that irrespective of the reasons, her client had still been subjected to a period of segregation due to the incident.
Ms McCann said while Yuen's actions could not be described as an unprovoked, random or gratuitous act of violence, it certainly did not fall at the lowest end of excessive self-defence.
She said Yuen needed extra time added to his non-parole period to address the gravity of the offending.
Justice Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson said sentencing an offender already serving a significant custodial sentence could be difficult.
"It has to address the issue of general deterrence and specific deterrence in a custodial setting as much as in a general setting," Justice Loukas-Karlsson said.
"The court has to reflect an appropriate punishment."
Justice Loukas-Karlsson did say Yuen should be commended for improving his behaviour since the incident and for undertaking education programs.
The court heard Yuen had achieved high distinctions in management and preparatory mathematics and intended to complete another degree while in prison in either creative writing or history.
Yuen is also paid $35 per week as an employee of the kitchen in his prison block.
He is currently not eligible for parole until October 2030.
The hearing was adjourned for the legal teams to make further written submissions before he is sentenced in March.
