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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
Blake Foden

Killer's latest vigilante attack 'could have had tragic consequences'

Danny Klobucar outside court in 2016, when he faced a murder trial. Picture by Jamila Toderas

A vigilante killer is lucky his latest attack did not have the same "tragic consequences" as one of his earlier escapades, a prosecutor has said.

But Danny Klobucar did not seem to consider himself fortunate on Monday, when he unsuccessfully pleaded with a magistrate to end the "eternity" he had spent behind bars.

Klobucar made the doomed request for immediate release as he was sentenced to a partially suspended prison term, which will keep him in custody for nearly two more months.

The Wanniassa man's vigilantism dates back to 2014, when he fatally bashed 71-year-old Miodrag Gajic after forming the irrational belief the frail Phillip resident was a paedophile.

He was suffering at the time from paranoid schizophrenia, which resulted him in being acquitted of murder on mental impairment grounds.

On Monday, the ACT Magistrates Court heard Klobucar remained the subject of mental health orders that would keep him under some form of supervision for another decade.

Danny Klobucar during his murder case.

However, those orders were not enough to prevent him being violent yet again last May.

That month, the 34-year-old attended his latest victim's home in Conder after being told that man had burnt a child's leg with a cigarette.

The victim insisted the suspected burn was in fact ringworm, but an incensed Klobucar choked him to the point he lost consciousness and defecated himself.

When police arrested Klobucar the next day, he was in possession of methamphetamine and two driver's licences that did not belong to him.

While Klobucar admitted unlawfully possessing stolen property, he pleaded not guilty to a choking charge and an allegation of possessing a drug of dependence.

In January, following a hearing, magistrate Robert Cook found him guilty of those offences.

Klobucar had spent more than 10 months behind bars on remand prior to Monday, when Mr Cook said a pre-sentence report suggested the offender now had a different attitude.

Mr Cook said Klobucar had told the author he made "a massive error" by attacking the victim, and that he had been "stupid enough" to hold onto the illicit drugs for a woman.

During submissions, defence barrister Travis Jackson urged Mr Cook to suspend any further time behind bars.

Prosecutor Lewis Etheredge described the choking offence as one that "could have had tragic consequences".

He said there were concerning parallels between this "vigilante-style, retribution attack" and the fatal bashing Klobucar had previously perpetrated.

Mr Etheredge also read to the court a statement from the choking victim, who wrote that he was considering leaving the ACT because he constantly feared being attacked again.

The man described experiencing frequent nightmares, ongoing neck pain and "intrusive thoughts", with the smell of poo often triggering the latter.

Mr Cook ultimately sentenced Klobucar, who appeared via audio-visual link from the Alexander Maconochie Centre, to 19 months in jail.

The magistrate backdated the sentence to the date of Klobucar's arrest and ordered that the balance be suspended after 12 months, meaning the offender will be released in late May.

Klobucar, who spent most of the sentencing stretched out across a table in a plank-like position, conceded he had "no reason to argue" with this.

However, he pleaded with Mr Cook to release him immediately, saying he would be happy to have five years of suspended jail time hanging over his head if he could walk free now.

"The time that I've spent here - 10 months - has felt like an eternity to me," Klobucar said.

"I've got no intention of coming before the court again. There'll be no guilty of anything."

Mr Cook, who declined to revisit the sentence, also fined Klobucar $1800 but gave him no time to pay, meaning the monetary penalties will be converted to time in custody.

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