A heavily drug-affected man who had to be sedated after committing a bizarre string of offences that included him running around a random house while performing breaststroke motions has been handed a 37-month suspended jail term.
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Daniel Nicholas Sheather, 23, was recently sentenced by the ACT Supreme Court after he pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, common assault and damage to property.
A judgment published on Thursday states that in December last year, Sheather went to a man's house in Calwell where he used a large hunting knife to stab the hallway.
The other man, who knew the offender, tried to calm the offender, an apprentice carpenter, by hugging him and reassuring him everything was OK.
But it failed. Sheather held the knife up near the man's throat, causing him to fear for his life.
He then demanded the victim give up his wallet, phone, car keys and jewellery.
Sheather then grabbed a frying pan and used it to smash the victim's head before grabbing his throat.
After leaving the premises, he went to another house on the same street where two families, including four adults and five children, were inside.
One of the parents started to scream at Sheather, telling him to leave, triggering Sheather to run though the house while using a breaststroke motion.
While moving through the house, he picked up various items, including a knife, a bottle of Coke and a piece of pizza he took a bite from before throwing it on the ground.
He used the knife to threaten one of the adult victims before rummaging through one of the cars in the garage.
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The occupants began screaming, prompting the victim from the first premises to yell at Sheather, who was then on the street, to stop.
Sheather again demanded the man to hand over all his property before pulling a chain off his neck.
When police arrived, they chased him briefly before a nurse sedated him with Ketamine due to his aggressive and erratic behaviour.
In her sentencing remarks, Chief Justice Helen Murrell said it was "bizarre behaviour" and that the offending against the first victim "would have been particularly frightening because of the offender's irrational behaviour and the fact that the offence apparently occupied a period of time".
"On the other hand, the offence was impulsive and poorly planned as the offender was heavily affected by illicit substances at the time," she said.
The judge said Sheather's offending against the other victims was "was extremely frightening".
"Of particular concern is the impact that it had on children. According to the victim impact statement, the children who were present became very frightened," she said.
The judge, who considered Sheather's 74 days pre-sentence custody in her decision, said it was an aggravating feature that Sheather had been serving a good behaviour order at the time of the offending.
Sheather will undergo a drug and alcohol treatment order as part of his sentence.
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