Robert Paget pleads guilty to wounding neighbour with meat cleaver

A Logan arborist with a long criminal history for violent offences, has been sentenced for assaulting a neighbour with a meat cleaver.

Robert Paget pleaded guilty to wounding a neighbour with a meat cleaver. FILE PHOTO

A Logan father-of-three with a long history of violence has been sentenced after slicing the back of his unsuspecting neighbour with a meat cleaver.

Robert Paget, 39, appeared via video link before the Beenleigh District Court on Wednesday January 24, 2023 where he pleaded guilty to one count of wounding.

The court heard of Paget’s 10-page criminal history, including fracturing a victim’s eye socket from a strike with a motorcycle helmet and headbutting and choking another victim.

A prosecutor told the court Paget committed the latest offence on April 29 last year.

“The victim was a neighbour who lived in the same unit complex,’’ the prosecutor said.

“They had a conflict that morning and when he (Paget) returned to the units he saw his neighbour sitting in his unit eating.

“He had a meat cleaver which he used to strike the victim in the back.

“He tried to strike him a second time but the victim grabbed the meat cleaver, which cut his fingers instead, in an attempt to disarm the defendant.

“The victim walked to the police station with a 5cm laceration to his back, a rib fracture and hand lacerations.’’

Paget denied any involvement in the attack when police visited his home, the court was told.

“There are a number of aggravating features such as the unprovoked attack to his back, the repeated strikes and showing no remorse by leaving him behind and lying to police,” the prosecutor said.

a barrister acting for Paget said his client had spent 635 days in custody and will be in jail “for a while yet”.

“He tells me his is now clean (of drugs) and has been continuing his education while in custody,” the barrister said.

“He last worked in 2019 as an arborist and hopes to get back into this.

“He suffers from anxiety and depression... this wasn’t a random attack as there was tension between this pair.”

Judge Craig Chowdhury said the victim’s broken ribs and tissue trauma indicated the force used during the attack.

“You jumped on top of him and push him down. You’re very lucky you didn’t do him grievous bodily harm,” he said.

Paget was sentenced to serve 15 months’ jail with parole eligibility on Wednesday this week, January 24.

But he was not due to be released from prison until April 23, 2026, after serving a prior prison sentence.

Convictions were recorded.