A 20-year-man says he was on cannabis and methamphetamine and does not remember when he hit a stranger on the head with a glass bottle at a Canberra park and led police on a pursuit in a stolen car.
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Nathaniel Coulter appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court for sentencing after he assaulted a man at Glebe Park in February, and tried to outrun police with a deflated tyre while on bail the following month.
The Moncrieff man pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm over the first incident, which resulted in the victim sustaining head injuries that required several stitches.
Prosecutor Stafford Whitfield said the "unprovoked" attack, which occurred during daylight hours, had caused the man "profuse bleeding".
In his victim impact statement, the 40-year-old man said he was traumatised, had nightmares, and had "lost [his] feeling of security" due to the attack.
Coulter also pleaded guilty to aggravated dangerous driving, unlicensed driving and drug driving, which occurred while he was on bail for the assault.
Coulter was driving a stolen Ford Ranger at 110km/h in a 70km/h zone, leading police on a pursuit from Campbell to Braddon.
The chase ended when one of the tyres deflated, causing debris to fly off and endanger pedestrians.
Coulter's lawyer, Andrew Fraser, said Coulter's 92 days in pre-sentence custody had been "sobering" and he made a "simply dumb decision".
At the sentencing on Tuesday afternoon, magistrate Robert Cook spoke about Coulter's history of offending and said "I need to recognise that continued behaviour".
Mr Cook sentenced Coulter to five months in jail and disqualified him from driving for three years.
The sentence was backdated to when Coulter first went into custody in March, meaning he will get out of prison on August 14.
Mr Cook also imposed an $800 fine but gave Coulter no time to pay it, meaning it will be acquitted by time spent in custody.
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