Eric Roberts jailed for drunken machete mishap after night on the sauce

An NT man will spend 10 months in jail after a night out at the casino ended in a drunken machete fight.

A TOP End man will spend 10 months in jail after a night out at the casino in February ended in a drunken machete fight that left his friend with a deep laceration to his neck.

Eric Roberts, 31, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to recklessly endangering serious harm to the other man after breaking his year long sobriety during a new year holiday in Darwin.

The court heard Roberts was drinking with another man, given the pseudonym JC by the court, when they went to visit the 21-year-old victim and his family in the early hours of February 13.

They continued drinking until Roberts threw up which caused an argument between him and the victim and Roberts told him “he would take on anyone who wanted to mess with him”.

Sentencing judge Stephen Southwood said the victim told Roberts to “settle down” and the group continued drinking but after a while he again “offered to fight anyone who wanted to take him on”.

“He stood up with the machete, held it out in front of the victim and shook it towards the victim’s face with the intention of scaring him,” he said.

“The offender stepped forward at the same time as the victim got up and the two came together. A struggle occurred. The victim grabbed the machete and tried to wrestle it out of the offender’s hand.

“The victim stepped backwards catching his ankle on a mattress in the room and the two men fell with the machete cutting across the victim’s neck.”

Justice Southwood said JC managed to separate the two other men and Roberts ran away while the victim called the police.

He said the victim had chosen not to make a statement to the court as he had “forgiven the offender and has moved on”.

“By way of explanation of his offending, the offender stated that on the night of the offending he became depressed about the death of his father, this affected him deeply,” he said.

“The offender approached the victim and in an attempt to scare him raised the machete up in the air. A struggle ensued, injuring the victim.

“He did not intend on wielding the machete in a way such as to cause injury to the victim. However, he admits the recklessness of his actions led to the injuries.”

Justice Southwood handed Roberts an 18 month sentence, to be suspended after 10 months.

“In the circumstances, the injuries are towards the lower end of the range of such offences,” he said.

“However, it is aggravated by the fact that it involved the use of a dangerous weapon, the machete, and the victim sustained a significant laceration to his neck.

“It is fortunate that he was not more seriously injured and he seems to have fully recovered and forgiven the offender.”