A former drone company owner will spend the rest of the year behind bars over his "blatant thuggery at the local shops", which left a cannabis thief in need of life-saving surgery.
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The ACT Supreme Court on Wednesday viewed footage of what was called "a ruthless daylight bashing" as offender Jamie Stewart Kinsela was sentenced to two years and 10 months in jail.
Chief Justice Helen Murrell ordered that the rest of the businessman's backdated sentence be suspended in January 2022, by which time he will have spent 16 months in custody.
Agreed facts show the 50-year-old's victim broke into his Spence house and stole some cannabis from him in late August 2020.
Kinsela, also known as Jamie Graham, subsequently lurked outside the victim's place with a friend, George Dritsas, while the pair also sent the victim numerous threatening messages.
On the morning of September 4 last year, Kinsela and Dritsas found the victim at an oval near the Latham shops.
The victim took off towards the shops, with Kinsela chasing on foot and Dritsas pursuing in a silver ute.
He ran into the Latham Turkish Food Bar, where CCTV played to the court on Wednesday captured Dritsas kicking, punching and stomping on him before taking his shoes.
After Dritsas had walked out, the victim crawled behind the counter.
Kinsela went back there and kicked the man, then dragged him all the way out the door by the hair and shirt.
Just outside the store, Kinsela punched the victim in the back of the head and stole his phone.
Prior to the rest of the incident playing out off camera, Dritsas stomped on the victim's right ankle five times and kicked him in the face.
Parts of what happened next could be heard in the background of a triple zero call made by a woman who lived nearby.
Yelling was audible as the panicked woman told the emergency call-taker: "Oh my God, they're putting him in the back of the ute. They're tying him up."
The woman screamed at the offenders to stop when she saw them grabbing rope from the back of the vehicle, distracting the attackers enough that the victim was able to get away.
Kinsela and Dritsas drove off in the ute, leaving the bleeding victim with the triple zero caller.
The operator praised the caller, telling her she "might have just saved that bloke's life".
The victim, who suffered a collapsed right lung, two broken ribs and a fractured right ankle, ultimately underwent life-saving surgery at Canberra Hospital.
Police have been unable to locate Dritsas but Kinsela, who was arrested the next day, pleaded guilty to charges of recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm and theft.
He also admitted two drug possession charges after a search of his house uncovered cannabis and THC.
Kinsela's barrister, Ken Archer, told the court the video of the incident was "alarming".
He conceded it showed a prolonged assault that had occurred "in the gaze of the public".
"It was unforgivable," he said.
But Mr Archer argued the period of more than 13 months Kinsela had already spent behind bars was enough, particularly when the 50-year-old had only been able to have very limited contact with his family in light of COVID-19 protocols.
The barrister added that his client was willing to assist authorities with the apprehension and prosecution of Dritsas, who was assumed to be in Melbourne.
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Prosecutor Sofia Janackovic pushed for Kinsela to be given more time behind bars, describing the incident as "a rather ruthless daylight bashing".
She told the court the assailants had acted as "a law unto themselves" when they brazenly attacked a man who "did not stand a chance" of defending himself.
"They committed pretty much blatant thuggery at the local shops without a care as to who saw them," Ms Janackovic said.
Chief Justice Murrell ultimately imposed the partially suspended jail sentence, along with associated two-year good behaviour orders.
She said she would publish her reasons at a later time.
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