Mother of Weston Creek murder trial witness fears she will be killed after home invasion

Her assailant learned his fate in the ACT Supreme Court on Wednesday, when he was sentenced to a partially suspended jail term that will see him released from custody this weekend.

The 18-year-old offender, who cannot be named because he was a child at the time of his crimes, stood trial last year over a fatal brawl at the Weston Creek skatepark.

He pleaded not guilty to a murder charge, and a jury acquitted him.

However, he pleaded guilty to recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm, admitting he seriously injured the deceased's cousin by knifing him during the same fight.

Chief Justice Lucy McCallum sentenced him for that offence in August 2022 to 13 months in jail, with what remained of the backdated prison term suspended.

It took only nine days for the teenager to breach an associated good behaviour order by repeatedly punching a former school friend at a Weston Creek gym.

The offender, who later pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, became aggressive when the victim of this incident consistently refused to speak to him.

The following month, the teenager committed four more crimes when he broke into the home of another former friend in Canberra's south.

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This former friend, who was not home at the time, also participated in the skatepark brawl and gave evidence for the prosecution at the offender's murder trial.

On the day of the intrusion, the offender smashed his way into the house with a rock.

When he was confronted by the witness's mother, he punched her in the head and threatened to stab her.

The teenager eventually left, kicking the witness's car as he departed with a puffer jacket he had stolen from the house.

In relation to this incident, he pleaded guilty to burglary, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, property damage and minor theft.

While he accepted responsibility, Chief Justice McCallum said his comments to a psychologist on the topic had been "troubling".

The court heard last week that the offender had told the psychologist he "broke into a snitch's house and punched his mum in the face".

"I had gone in to support him in a fight and then he dogs me in," the offender said of the witness.

Chief Justice McCallum said a victim impact statement from the witness's mother also revealed the intrusion had left the woman with "significant pain and ongoing trauma".

The judge said the woman had described now living with a constant sense of fear someone would burst in to her home again and attack her, and perhaps even take her life.

Initially, Chief Justice McCallum planned to deal with the new crimes and the good behaviour order breach through a nine-month jail term to be served wholly behind bars.

With the term backdated to the time of his latest arrest in September 2022, the offender would have been released from the Bimberi Youth Justice Centre on June 11.

However, a letter tendered to the court at the last moment changed the judge's mind on Wednesday.

The letter stated the offender needed to attend a crucial medical appointment interstate next Monday, ahead of open heart surgery scheduled for later this month.

The court had previously been told medical experts wanted this surgery to occur by the end of June, and definitely no later than September, but no dates had been set.

Chief Justice McCallum said it was "difficult not to feel manipulated", with the appointments perhaps timed to "tie the court's hands".

However, she felt compelled to accommodate the surgery because it would have a significant impact on the offender's life expectancy.

The judge accordingly imposed the backdated nine-month sentence but ordered that it be suspended from Sunday, leaving roughly five weeks hanging over the offender's head.

Once he is released, the teenager will be subject to good behaviour orders until December.

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