Michael Butler sentenced to intensive correction order over Kambah birthday stabbing

Michael John Butler, 54, also knifed and punched a second man who remonstrated with him about the initial attack.

He spent 69 days in custody before being granted bail, and avoided further time behind bars on Monday when he was sentenced in the ACT Supreme Court to a two-year intensive correction order.

Acting Chief Justice Michael Elkaim said the incident took place in August 2020, when Butler was living with two friends, who were brothers, in a Kambah townhouse.

The trio was joined on the evening in question by another man, who came over with a case of beer to celebrate a birthday.

As the group drank, things between this man and Butler grew tense.

One of the brothers asked Butler to tone down his aggression and, when the offender refused to do so, told him to leave.

Acting Chief Justice Elkaim said Butler responded by attacking this brother.

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The 54-year-old trapped his target on a couch and struck him on the right cheek with "an unknown implement" before stabbing him on the left side of his throat with a flick knife.

Fortunately, the weapon only caused damage to soft tissue.

The man visiting the property intervened, receiving a superficial stab wound to one of his palms for his trouble.

"He was also punched about his head," the judge said.

After "a heated verbal exchange", police were called to the townhouse and Butler was arrested.

The 54-year-old subsequently pleaded guilty to two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and a single charge of using a prohibited weapon.

Sentencing him on Monday, Acting Chief Justice Elkaim detailed the offender's unusual life history.

The judge said Butler had been adopted and taken as a child to Sweden, where he had ended up in foster care before coming back to Australia to live with grandparents who were "non-functioning alcoholics".

The offender, who has spent many years in and out of prison, has also had a large number of medical and mental health issues.

He has been injured when falling from a building, being knocked over by a car, being hit in the head with a piece of concrete, being shot with a tear gun canister, and being attacked in custody.

His mental health diagnoses include one of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Acting Chief Justice Elkaim said Butler had also been dependent on heroin for more than 20 years.

The offender claims to have given up this drug, and works on a casual basis as a cleaner, labourer or administrative assistant.

Butler told the author of an intensive correction order assessment report that he regretted his offending conduct, "including the loss of a best friend", conceding he had been "drinking too much".

Acting Chief Justice Elkaim's judgment included an impact statement written by one of the victims, though it did not say which.

This victim said he was still affected by the incident and now slept "surrounded by knives", but he believed the time Butler had already served behind bars was "sufficient".

While the judge said he would not normally agree this period in custody was enough, "this really is quite an exceptional case".

He noted that a clinical psychologist believed Butler's mental health would "deteriorate quite significantly" if he was sent back to prison.

Acting Chief Justice Elkaim ultimately imposed the intensive correction order, which includes a condition about engaging in counselling, treatment or programs designed to deal with mental health and substance abuse issues.

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