An attacker stabbed a neighbour in the chest before saying "die bitch" as the victim lay on the ground bleeding heavily.
"If you f---ing stab me one more time you are going to kill me," the victim told Fasil Jember, 34, in March 2025.
On Thursday, July 30, Jember was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years jail for what an ACT Supreme Court judge described as a "sustained and ferocious" attack.
Justice John White handed the man a backdated non-parole period to take a previous jail sentence into account, meaning he will be eligible for release in about four years and nine months.
He previously pleaded guilty to intentionally inflicting grievous bodily harm and a rolled-up count of common assault. A charge of attempted murder has been withdrawn.
On March 30, 2025, Jember attended the home of a woman he knew and argued with her neighbour.
He had been watching the home remotely via a doorbell camera and saw the woman go to the neighbour's to get cigarettes.
When Jember arrived he pulled out a large knife and confronted the neighbour in a carport, stabbing the victim in the chest and leg.
The 34-year-old then assaulted the woman, who unbeknownst to him was pregnant, by punching her in the stomach and face.
He said "you are not calling an ambulance," and took a mobile phone from her.
When Jember returned to the heavily bleeding man he wielded the knife again and swung at him, before running to a car being driven by an unknown man and fleeing.
The stabbing victim was taken to hospital a short time later suffering from life-threatening injuries including a chest incision that penetrated into his liver and abdominal cavity.
Other wounds included a deep cut that completely ruptured his Achilles tendon and lacerated nerves.
Justice White said that as a result of the injuries the man would suffer ongoing chronic pain and immobility, permanent scarring and psychological repercussions.
The judge found Jember's motivation was "extreme and irrational jealousy".
"[Jember] returned to the unit armed with a knife with the intention to enact retribution on his imagined rival," Justice White said.
Giving evidence earlier this month, Jember told the court he was "fuelled with jealousy" on the night of the attack and "rocking up being on ice for three days straight".
"The drugs didn't allow me to think the way I normally would," he said.
"I could've diffused the problem."
Jember said that "when I came back to my normal self, I feel horrible about it."
"I accept every bit of consequences I get."
Justice White found the attacker appeared to blame the victims and had limited insight into his crimes.
"He will need to address his drug problems and develop some insight into his controlling behaviour," the judge said.
Jember will be eligible for parole in April 2031.
