The sentencing of an assailant who left one of his housemates with a broken nose during an unprovoked attack has been delayed as a mental health examination is ordered.
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Brendan Darryl Girdler, 25, fronted the ACT Magistrates Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, breaching a protection order and failing to appear in court as part of bail.
Court documents state he was wearing only a pair of shorts when he approached a housemate who was chatting to his wife via phone in December 2020.
Girdler punched the victim in the face, neck and torso "without warning or provocation" and in defiance of pleas to stop.
The victim desperately asked him: "What for, brother?"
Another housemate at the Macgregor home phoned emergency services after hearing "the sound of fighting" and walking outside to find "blood everywhere".
The victim sustained a "displaced" nose and bruised left eye and he later told police he felt scared and that Girdler had been "very angry" during the attack.
On Tuesday, magistrate Glenn Theakston formally recorded convictions for all three charges and referred Girdler to an assessment to determine if a psychiatric treatment order was necessary.
Defence lawyer Edward Chen said his client had stopped taking medications temporarily but that he would restart soon.
Mr Chen said Girdler had ran out of scripts and the medications were making "his head foggy".
"He wanted a short break so that he could have a clear head presumably because of these proceedings," Mr Chen said.
Prosecutor Elizabeth Wren said Girdler's plan to restart medications had to be weighed against a number of different factors.
Ms Wren said these included a medical report stating he had "little insight into his psychotic illness" and repeated failure to engage with the pre-sentence report, and "breaching court orders generally speaking".
"The protection of the community has to loom quite large [in sentencing]," she said.
However, Ms Wren said it was appropriate for the magistrate to refer Girdler to a psychiatric assessment to ensure "those that have the necessary expertise are satisfied he's not in need of a psychiatric treatment order".
Girdler is scheduled to front court again on September 29 for sentencing.
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