A man who threatened his grandmother with a six-foot fishing spear and his young brother with a machete while they had domestic violence orders against him for previous attacks, has been sentenced to prison for two years and four months.

In sentencing, Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Grant said the brazen assaults that left Peter Bara’s family shaken took place over a weekend in June last year and followed a complex childhood marred by violence.

Facing court this month, Bara pleaded guilty to four serious offences – two aggravated assault charges, one for theft and one for aggravated robbery – which combined could have resulted in life imprisonment.

Chief Justice Grant said Bara, 18 at the time of the offences, already had domestic violence orders in place to protect his grandmother and 13-year-old brother but on the afternoon of June 28, 2019, the orders were violated when he “became enraged” and threatened his grandmother with a fishing spear after she refused to give him money.

“…Your grandmother gave you $700 and your mother gave you $200,” he said. “You travelled to Angurugu with the intention of purchasing cannabis with that money. The following day you travelled from Angurugu to a beach elsewhere on Groote Eylandt where you knew that your family were spending the weekend camping.

“Once you arrived, you started asking your grandmother for more money. She told you that she had spent it on all the camping gear for the weekend. You became enraged and picked up a six foot-long fishing spear with a metal prong.

“You held that spear in a throwing motion and threatened to throw it at your grandmother while shouting at her to give you money.

“One of your relatives took the spear from you and another gave you $100 to calm you down.

“You sat down and started playing cards and won a further $300. You then left the beach and travelled back to Angurugu where you purchased cannabis with that money.

“You returned to the beach later that night. On your return, you saw that your 12-year-old female cousin-sister had won $600 playing cards and that the money was sitting on the sand in front of her. You walked over and grabbed $150 from that pile. Your cousin roused on you for doing so. You became angry and slapped her on the face using an open hand.”

Chief Justice Grant said a family member took him back to Angurugu but the next day he went back to the beach and took $400 his grandmother had won playing cards, gave $100 back, then gambled and lost the other $300.

“As a result, you became angry and asked your 13-year-old brother for money, but he refused,” he said.

“You then picked up a machete approximately 50 centimetres in length and walked towards your brother demanding that he give you money.

“He gave you approximately $140 and you returned to Angurugu.”

He was reported to police and arrested about 10 days later.

A neuropsychological assessment read to the court described Bara, at 17-years old, as a youth with anger problems, low mood and aggression.

“Your time at school was characterised by bullying, social problems and learning difficulties,” Chief Justice Grant said.

“You experienced a sharp deterioration in your mental state in 2017 and began behaving in a bizarre and threatening manner towards others… This led to a diagnosis of schizophreniform psychosis, with the concern that the condition might develop into schizophrenia in the future.”

The court heard that at the time Bara had a tendency to use cannabis daily “and the abuse of volatile substances and alcohol on an intermittent basis”.

Chief Justice Grant listed a number of prior offences including assaults, bail breaches and stealing. In April of this year, Bara was identified as the perpetrator in a fight between five prisoners, while held on bail, and placed in solitary confinement.

A map of Groote Eylandt .

The court heard that in April 2018, Bara was found guilty of an aggravated assault causing harm and involving the use of a weapon, aggravated assault on a female involving the use of a weapon, aggravated assault on a female causing harm and involving the use of a weapon, going armed with an offensive weapon, threats to injure and two counts of engaging in conduct in contravention of a domestic violence order.

The bulk of these were committed on three days, three of those assaults were committed against his grandmother, his mother and his 12-year-old brother.

The complex history of violence compounded by a traumatic childhood and no effective services available in his home town of Groote Eylandt made him “unsuitable for supervision” on any form of order or suspended sentence, Justice Chief Grant said.

Chief Justice Grant said Bara presented a “high risk” of re-offending and his “poor impulse control means that, at this point in time, you are unable to abstain from cannabis abuse and the drug-seeking behaviours which lead you into criminal conduct”.

It was recommended Bara continue to visit alcohol and drug services, have psychiatric reviews and would benefit from “assertive case management” by Community Corrections in order to assist with life outside prison.

A non-parole period of one year and four months was fixed.