A man jailed over a "bone-shattering" attack on two people sitting in a car has had his sentence shortened by the ACT Supreme Court.
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David Tavake Mailau, also known as Tevita Tui'tavake Mailau, successfully appealed on Tuesday against the severity of the initial sentence imposed by the ACT Magistrates Court.
Mailau pleaded guilty to two assault charges and one count of damaging property after he attacked his former partner and her male friend while they sat in a Mercedes-Benz outside her house in Crace in March 2021.
The 45-year-old approached the car, which was reversing out of the driveway, and called his former partner a "f---ing slut" and "dirty c---".
He then punched the man through the open driver's seat window four times in the face while he still had his seat belt on. This fractured the man's nose, causing his face to bleed and his right eye to swell up.
The woman recorded part of the attack on her phone and called triple-0, which prompted Mailau to hit his former partner on her arm, and take her phone and smash it on the ground.
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Magistrate James Lawton sentenced Mailau in May to a total of 20 months behind bars, with 12 months for assault occasioning actual bodily harm, six months for common assault and two months for damage to property.
He described the attack as "spontaneous and vicious" as he ordered the terms be served consecutively.
Mailau appealed, represented by barrister Keegan Lee, arguing the individual sentences should have had some overlap and he should have been given an intensive correction order.
Justice Michael Elkaim agreed with the first argument about concurrency, agreeing the sentences should not have been served one after the the other, as all charges arose from one attack.
"I think the learned magistrate's imposition of entirely cumulative sentences does not give appropriate weight to this consideration and amounts to an error in the sentencing process," Justice Elkaim said on Tuesday.
He did not agree with the argument about an intensive correction order because of Mailau's criminal history, which included a prior attack on the same former partner.
Justice Elkaim rejected a submission that the assault on the friend should be regarded with less seriousness than that assessed by the magistrate.
"This was an attack, with bone-shattering consequences, on a total stranger who happened to be a friend, and no more, of the appellant's former partner," Justice Elkaim said.
He did not change the sentences for each offence but decided to make them partially concurrent, thus shortening Mailau's jail time to a total of 15 months.
Mailau's eight month non-parole period was also decreased to six months, making him eligible for release on November 3.
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