‘Belligerent’ man jailed for biting off part of former friend’s ear

A Hobart man who had part of his ear bitten off by his former friend underwent “excruciating pain” and has been left with a permanent cosmetic deformity, a court has heard.

LUKE David Buck was drunk and in a “belligerent” mood the night he bit off part of his former friend’s ear.

It was November 2018 and the 36-year-old had arrived at a mate’s house at Rokeby “without invitation or prior arrangement”, but nevertheless to enjoy a spontaneous social occasion with friends.

The night turned sour when Buck, who was “heavily affected” by alcohol – and perhaps by illicit drugs – saw his victim, for whom he had developed a “dislike”, the Supreme Court of Tasmania heard on Tuesday.

Justice Michael Brett said Buck, a bottle of alcohol in hand, decided to inflict physical violence upon the man.

“You approached him and as you did so, you smashed the alcohol bottle on the ground in order to create a sharp weapon, and said words to the effect of: ‘you’re dead, dog’,” the judge said while sentencing.

The man tried to defend himself, but Buck bit off part of the victim’s right ear.

“As you were wrestling, you took hold of his ear in your mouth and whipped your head around,” Justice Brett said.

“It was a brutal and violent act.”

He said the victim suffered “excruciating pain” and was now left with a “permanent cosmetic deformity”.

Justice Brett said Buck had a propensity for violence that dated back to his teenage years and had a number of prior convictions for violent offending and had already served several significant periods of imprisonment.

The judge said he had ordered a report to investigate why Buck had this propensity, and said he seemed to have “a lack of capacity” to control his behaviour and a history of substance abuse. He noted Buck had indicated he wanted to address his underlying illicit substance problem, but said he had a “long way to go”.

Buck, who fought the accusations at trial, was convicted of one count of wounding, one count of assault and one count of unlawfully injuring property. Justice Brett sentenced him to three years’ jail, with a non-parole period of two years.