A man has been sentenced to a three-year jail term for his role in an assault at Wallsend over the loss of $200 during a run to buy drugs last year.
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Aaron James Wilson had travelled in a car with the 34-year-old male victim as well as an 18-year-old man - Wilson's co-accused - and a woman to buy cannabis before the attack on October 17, Newcastle District Court heard on Monday. Wilson and his co-accused, who has pleaded not guilty and will face a trial next year, were dropped back to Wilson's home at Jesmond before the 34-year-old man and the woman went on to Wallsend.
The court heard that Wilson's co-accused allegedly became angry after discovering he had lost $200.
Believing the victim could have taken the cash, Wilson and the co-accused went to the Wallsend home and confronted the 34-year-old.
Wilson hit the victim once on the head with a metal object and the co-accused allegedly assaulted the man with a PVC pipe.
The attack left the 34-year-old with several minor wounds that had to be glued and stapled later at hospital.
During the encounter, Wilson elbowed the victim's father as he tried to intervene, knocking him to the ground.
The victim then hit Wilson on the head with a piece of wood, before Wilson and his co-accused left the scene. They were arrested soon after.
If you hang around with people who are using drugs or getting into trouble then you're likely to use drugs and get into trouble.
- Judge Roy Ellis.
The court heard on Monday that Wilson, now 31, was on parole at the time of the incident.
Judge Roy Ellis said Wilson had spent about 40 per cent of his life in custody since turning 18.
Judge Ellis said that the evidence before the court showed that Wilson had ongoing intellectual problems - he did not live with an intellectual disability but was in the bottom 3 per cent of the population.
He sentenced Wilson to three years in jail - which included a one year discount for pleading guilty in the local court - and backdated the term to February 2022.
He ordered that Wilson be released on parole next June.
"There will be time for you to go onto that program where they organise support for you when you are released," Judge Ellis told Wilson.
"You need that support, you need a place to stay. You also need to consider the people that you hang around with. If you hang around with people who are using drugs or getting into trouble then you're likely to use drugs and get into trouble. You need to ... stay away from people who are using drugs or breaking the law. That will maximise your chance of staying out of trouble and being able to have a far more normal life out in the community."
