A Canberra judge has urged a serial criminal to turn his life around and use his jail sentence as a chance to prepare himself for a crime free life in the community.
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"You are too old to keep coming back to jail," Justice Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson told Steven Dean Lockwood.
"You can make something of the rest of your life."
Lockwood, 53, was sentenced in the ACT Supreme Court on Friday on a charge of aggravated robbery.
The court heard Lockwood had been one of a group involved in a home invasion in January last year where a man was bashed, stabbed with scissors, tied up, and robbed.
The victim had been playing video games when he heard a knock at the door, and let a man he knew inside.
He was punched and fell to the floor and three other men, including Lockwood, entered the property.
During the ensuing struggle, the victim was punched and kicked and threatened with demands for cash.
He was stabbed under the left collarbone using half a pair of scissors and then tied up on the lounge.
The men searched the property, taking electronics, cannabis, and cash before leaving.
The victim managed to untie himself and used his video game console to ask an online player to call for an ambulance.
Lockwood was identified as his fingerprints had been found in the property.
The court heard the offender had an extensive criminal record and history of drug use, including smoking a gram of heroin a day and a quarter ounce of cannabis every second day prior to his incarceration.
He had returned clean drugs tests while in custody.
A pre-sentence report author said Lockwood blamed his crimes on a traumatic childhood and other experiences, and took no responsibility for his behaviour.
The court heard the offender had behavioural issues while in custody, including verbal abuse and threats of violence to both staff and other detainees.
The report author found Lockwood remained a significant risk to the community.
However, the court heard he had engaged with a jail pyschologist to work towards a post-release plan.
Justice Loukas-Karlsson sentenced Lockwood to two years and nine months' jail, backdated to take into account time spent in custody, with a non-parole period of two years.
Lockwood will be eligible for parole in October next year.
The judge told Lockwood she had structured the sentence to give him "hope for the future so you will not become institutionalised in jail".
