A man, nicknamed "Doggie", has been found guilty of a violent machete attack at a car wash, despite police "unprofessionalism".
A judge has described an officer's arrest of the assailant and subsequent police conduct as "reflecting a casual disregard for obligations".
On Monday, Justice Louise Taylor found Aaron Kenneth Campbell, 37, guilty of attempted aggravated robbery, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and property damage.
While CCTV captured the incident, Campbell had denied being the offender during a judge-alone trial last month.
At the beginning of the trial, lawyers for Campbell had applied to exclude some evidence on the basis his arrest and police conduct afterwards had been unlawful.
Prosecutor Caitlin Diggins did not press the admissibility of this evidence, and the judge did not take it into account when finding Campbell guilty.
However, in a judgement published on Monday, Justice Taylor said the conduct of the arresting officer "reflected a casual disregard for his obligations ... as well as a level of unprofessionalism".
"One view of the conduct of the officer is that it was designed to develop something of a personal rapport with the accused in an effort to encourage and secure his compliance with the arrest," she said.
"If that is indeed so, the execution of that effort was poor and almost entirely sacrificed professionalism.
"Almost the entirety of the police evidence demonstrated, concerningly, a lackadaisical approach to contemporaneous note-making."
Justice Taylor said this revealed a "fundamental failure" to record matters in detail at the time, or near to the time, they occurred.
The incident took place in the early hours of February 11, 2022, after the victim received a call from a man who identified himself as "Chris" and another unknown man.
During the trial, Ms Diggins had alleged "Chris" asked the victim: "Can you help us out with any stuff?"
Giving evidence, the alleged victim said he agreed to meet at a car wash in Calwell "because I was curious" and the two men on the call sounded "suspicious".
The victim claimed he arrived at the car wash and was circled by another car, a Hyundai i30, which the court heard pulled up and blocked his car's path.
Seconds later, CCTV footage shows a man, who the victim told the court he recognised as being Campbell, holding a machete and exiting the Hyundai.
Campbell is accused of shattering the alleged victim's driver side car window with the machete while asking for drugs and swinging the weapon.
The victim placed his car in reverse and crashed it into a pillar.
Campbell allegedly continued swinging the machete at the other man, who was now outside the car, striking the side of his head and his right ring finger.
The victim told the court he then ran, while being chased for a short time, to a nearby petrol station for help.
CCTV shows Campbell return to and look inside the man's car, before driving off.
Ultimately, Justice Taylor found CCTV, DNA results, phone records, ties to the car used in the attack, in combination with the victim's evidence, proved Campbell was the assailant.
The case is next set to go before a registrar to schedule a date for sentencing.
