Matthew Massey earns another jail sentence after committing 'serious attack on civility'

Matthew James Massey, 45, was sentenced in the ACT Supreme Court on Tuesday morning to three years in jail for offences of burglary and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

He could be released from custody as soon as mid-March, however, with his 17-month non-parole period backdated to start on the day of his latest arrest in October 2020.

Acting Justice Richard Refshauge, who once likened Massey's criminal history to a Greek tragedy, said a "troublesome" few weeks had preceded a "nasty" incident in September of that year.

The sentencing judge said Massey had been staying with the victim, a friend of the 45-year-old's, at the man's home in Flynn.

Things began to turn bad when an "agitated" Massey chased his host around the house one day and threatened him.

After temporarily retreating to a hotel, the victim returned home and, early one morning, fell asleep after playing Xbox games.

The man was woken by Massey, and the pair began arguing about the 45-year-old's girlfriend.

Acting Justice Refshauge said the victim eventually told Massey to "f--- off", which "terminated the licence [Massey] had to be there".

But Massey refused to leave the property and "a violent struggle" ensued in a bedroom, leaving the victim with a puncture injury about 3cm long on the left side of his abdomen.

Acting Justice Refshauge noted that it was not entirely clear what had caused this wound, but Massey's guilty pleas indicated the 45-year-old took responsibility for having inflicted it somehow.

The judge said it was possible Massey had stabbed the victim with a pen knife, though he noted the offender had given the author of a court-ordered report a version of events that did not necessarily accord with an agreed statement of facts.

That version involved Massey asserting that he had been attempting to buy methamphetamine from the victim when an argument erupted and the man threatened to shoot him.

Massey claimed the man then entered the bedroom, only to be sent "flying" onto a table when he barged his way in and hit him with the door.

Acting Justice Refshauge ultimately told Massey that whatever the victim had been doing, "these offences were bad".

"They were nasty," he said. "They were not good."

The judge also described the latest crimes committed by Massey, who has spent much of his life forging a reputation as a prison hardman, as "a serious attack on the civility and peace of the community".

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"You're old enough now to grow out of this sort of stuff," he told the 45-year-old, noting that Massey was currently behind bars with a son who had "followed in his father's footsteps".

Massey had originally sought a drug and alcohol treatment order on account of long-standing substance abuse issues, but he withdrew that application after being deemed unsuitable.

While the career criminal may now be released from Canberra's Alexander Maconochie Centre within two months, he might immediately face another prison stint interstate.

A warrant has been issued for Massey's arrest in NSW because his latest offences place him in breach of a community corrections order, which was imposed by the Queanbeyan District Court in 2019 after he impersonated a police officer.

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