A teenage boy who stabbed and slashed an unconscious man's face in Sydney's inner city has been jailed for eight years, as a judge described the attack as "despicable and cowardly".
Brett Halcro had been watching a rugby league game at the Dunkirk Hotel in Pyrmont on July 31, 2020 before he was attacked by a group of teenagers who had been partying at a nearby apartment.
Mr Halcro was beaten unconscious before the boy, then 16, produced a knife and carved at his face.
The blade punctured Mr Halcro's right eye, leaving him almost blind on that side and with the prospect of losing his eye in the future.
He was placed in an induced coma after suffering other severe injuries including a broken jaw, bleeding behind his ear and a misaligned spine.
The boy who stabbed him, who can't be identified because he is a juvenile, had brought black gloves and a balaclava to the party, which he donned during the bashing.
Now 17, he was today sentenced at the Downing Centre District Court to at least four years in prison.
The jail term was backdated to the day of the boy's arrest on August 3, 2020, meaning he will be eligible for parole in 2024.
In delivering the sentence, Judge Robert Sutherland said the teenager's claims he was under the influence of alcohol and prescription drugs at the time did not mitigate the attack but may explain its "uninhibited violence and frenzy".
He said the boy had "committed an act of physical violence … with a degree of ferocity that is difficult to rationalise".
"The deliberate intention to inflict grievous bodily harm on the unconscious and prone victim … was despicable and cowardly," Judge Sutherland said.
The judge said the teen's evidence of having no memory of the incident was possible, had he taken Xanax after drinking at the party as claimed.
Mr Halcro, 37, sustained extensive physical and mental injuries from the attack, the court heard, and remains haunted by the incident.
He said his young daughter was "the reason why I keep going".
Mr Halcro was subjected to repeated punches, kicks and stomps, even after he lost consciousness, by a group of about eight teenagers, the court heard.
Judge Sutherland said the attack had the hallmarks of "gang mentality" but he found the boy's use of the small knife was "clearly spontaneous".
"There is no evidence of pre-planning," the judge said.
The boy was also sentenced to a good behaviour bond of 12 months for an unrelated break and enter offence in Killara committed in April 2020.
Police charged him with the break-in after matching fingerprints found at the scene to those taken following his arrest for the attack on Mr Halcro.
Judge Sutherland said the boy's background made him the "antithesis" of many young people who come before the court for such violent offences.
A former star student of some of Sydney's most expensive private schools, the court heard the boy had fallen into a spiral of substance abuse after a family breakdown.
Since being incarcerated, the boy has been described by as a "model detainee" who is bright and dedicated to his education, the court was told.
Noting the boy was approaching his 18th birthday, Judge Sutherland raised the prospect of allowing him to remain in a juvenile detention centre until he had completed his high school certificate later this year rather than being transferred to an adult prison.
The judge asked for a report to look into that possibility before the matter returns to court in March.
Motivation for the attack has been linked in court documents to a teenage girl's claim that she had been "groped" by a man on the street.
The court heard Mr Halcro had earlier grabbed the girl after one of the partygoers, Jalen Morrison, had stolen a small bag of drugs from a man Mr Halcro had been with at a nearby pub.
Morrison, who was 18, ran back to the Wattle Street apartment where the party was being held and Mr Halcro then followed the girl in that direction down Pyrmont Bridge Road.
After receiving a phone call from the girl, the group of teens stormed outside the apartment and set upon Mr Halcro.
Judge Sutherland said there was "not a scintilla of evidence" that Mr Halcro had committed any offence, saying he had grabbed the girl as she tried to leave the scene of the robbery.
