A 27-year-old man will spend 16 months in jail after pleading guilty to a horrific attack that forced an Irish female working in the remote Indigenous community of Peppimenarti to fight for her life with a softball bat.

Devan Hodgson was facing a maximum prison sentence of 20 years as his case was heard in the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory last week, but a guilty plea saw a significantly reduced sentence.

In handing down his sentence, acting Justice Dean Mildren told the court the victim has since left the community and “has trouble being alone in her apartment”, after Hodgson broke into her house just before 5am on Friday, January 10 of this year.

The court heard the 24-year-old victim, whose name has been withheld, was alone in the house on the night of the attack, and was abruptly woken by Hodgson, who had consumed 24 cans of stolen beer, leering over her bed and that a struggle ensued.

“Your victim was terrified and jumped up on her bed, yelling at you to leave, and that you should not be in the house,” Justice Mildren said.

“Fearing for her safety, she grabbed a softball bat that was kept under her bed, and from her prone position, she struck you in the head with the bat several times.”

The court heard the victim had to use significant force during the struggle, in which she was injured and left with a large haematoma to her left temple, a scratch over her left eyebrow, small cuts on her left and right hands and a cut lip.

Hodgson, the court heard, did not leave the fight unscathed, but suffered significant bleeding from a wound above his left eyebrow.

Despite making a hasty escape, the court heard the victim was able to take note of Hodgson’s appearance. The details were later relayed to police who commenced an investigation.

Hodgson initially told investigators he was hunting for cigarette butts inside the house and “got hit by a girl with a baseball bat and.. had been flogged with that bat”.

Police arrested Hodgson on January 10, just after 10am. A statement, read to the court, recorded Hodgson stating he “went to look for cigarette butts, but I got hit by a baseball bat while I was trespassing.”

“Your victim told the police that if she had not defended herself, she believed that you would have raped her. She was clearly emotional during this disclosure,” Justice Mildren said.

Justice Mildren detailed a “relatively small number of prior convictions” to the court including traffic offences, and because of those facts would treat Hodgson as a first offender.

In handing down his sentence Justice Mildren highlighted the significant, and ongoing impacts of the attack.

“[The victim] feels very worried and wary of new surroundings, and she gets scared when she goes alone into places she is not familiar with,” he said.

“For example, she has trouble going into public toilets, and she also had trouble being alone in her apartment. She is afraid at night-time when she tries to sleep.”

He highlighted that Hodgson’s level of “heavy intoxication” did not excuse his behaviour, “but it provides an explanation of it.”

“Offending of this kind, especially against females living and working in Aboriginal communities is regarded by the courts as especially serious,” Justice Mildren said.

And while suffering “some minor injuries” from the baseball bat, Justice Mildren said he would not go so far as to say that Hodgson “suffered any significant punishment as a result”.

Justice Mildren handed down a sentence of two years and eight months in prison, suspended after 16 months, after which Hodgson is expected to be under supervision of a probation and parole officer.