A prisoner found guilty of cutting another inmate with a "makeshift weapon" has been sentenced to more than four years behind bars for the assault and other offences.
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Anthony Daniel McIver, 33, faced the ACT Supreme Court on Tuesday, after being found guilty by a jury of recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm.
McIver was on remand at the Alexander Maconochie Centre in February 2021, while awaiting a trial on charges of being knowingly concerned in an aggravated burglary and an assault occasioning actual bodily harm on a pregnant woman.
He was eventually found not guilty of those charges.
The 33-year-old used a "bladed article" to cut a sentenced prisoner's face multiple times in an attack the court heard was carried out in retaliation after the victim had "coward punched" him.
McIver gave evidence on Tuesday that he received death threats and "had a target on my head the whole time" in jail because the woman he was alleged to have helped assault had friends in jail.
He eventually "ended up getting got" and was assaulted while he was in the sentenced prisoner section of the jail, despite being on remand.
McIver's barrister, John Masters, told the court McIver was "constantly looking over his shoulder" and "could not rely on authorities to protect him", which resulted in him carrying out "jailhouse justice" after he was attacked.
Mr Masters told the court the incident was "not an unprovoked attack" and McIver should have been segregated rather than kept in what Justice David Mossop called a "soup of convicted and non-convicted prisoners".
McIver was seen on CCTV footage lunging at the victim with a knife-like weapon, or "shiv", which resulted in the man suffering from multiple cuts on the face, including a 7cm wound that required stiches.
Prosecutor Morgan Howe argued other prisoners need to be deterred from violence behind bars.
"You can't take the law into your own hands. You can't dish out 'jailhouse justice'," Mr Howe said.
McIver pleaded guilty to separate charges of using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence, possessing a knife in public without a reasonable excuse, and making a demand with a threat to endanger health, safety or physical wellbeing.
In May, while on bail, McIver sent a threatening text message to his former partner and stated: "Shutup and tik tok you f---ed with the devil so walk away or die up to you im coming tik tok [sic]".
On the same night, he attacked a stranger on a street in Gungahlin, demanding $50 and telling the man: "If I hold a blade up to your throat you may have it."
When police arrived, McIver dropped a black kunai-style double-edged knife into a nearby planter box.
Police recovered the Japanese weapon after arresting McIver.
Justice Mossop sentenced McIver on Tuesday to a total of four years and five months behind bars, with the jail term backdated to start in May 2021.
McIver will be eligible for parole in November 2024.
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