Jason David Joyce, 50, pleaded guilty in the County Court to aggravated burglary, theft, making a threat to kill and possessing cannabis, as well as a summary charge of driving while suspended.
The court heard Joyce went looking for the teenager where he works on June 21 and said to the teenager’s boss that he would kill the boy and his family.
Joyce then went to the teenager’s house armed with a “wooden club”.
He smashed a door to gain entry to the house and took a guitar he believed was his but was actually one gifted to the teenager by his father.
Joyce told police he intended to injure anyone who was in the house.
Police later pulled Joyce over when they saw him driving in Shepparton after the police database showed he was wanted by police.
The court heard police found 15.52 grams of cannabis in the car, as well as a wooden club in the front passenger seat footwell.
The defence said Joyce, who lives at no fixed address but has been staying in Seymour and Benalla with people he knows, said the offence he perceived the teen to have committed had been “triggering” for him.
Solicitor Laurence Waugh said the defence position was that at the time of the offence, Joyce was “suffering mental impairment”, with a psychologist linking this to abuse Joyce had suffered himself as child.
The defence also argued that Joyce, who was born in Benalla, had injuries from a motorbike accident in June 2020 that had seen him have his two legs “degloved”, and he was still awaiting further surgery.
In her sentencing, Judge Carolene Gwynn said she accepted that the information Joyce had been given “must have been a triggering event for him”; however; she said he was responsible for his actions on the day and he had also used methamphetamines that day.
She noted that Joyce told police “if anyone had have been home I would have bashed someone to death” after the break-in at the teen’s house.
“You (also) said, upon release, you would burn the house down,” Judge Gwynn said.
She also noted Joyce told police he intended to get a gun “to kill the lot of them”.
“You told police you were driving to get a gun to kill them,” Judge Gwynn said.
The judge noted a psychologist report that said Joyce suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia and substance abuse disorder and that the PTSD had relevance to his offending as it impaired his problem solving.
“While this did not justify your actions, it did give context to them,” she said.
Joyce was sentenced to a community corrections order for two years and four months.
Conditions include 150 hours of community work, as well as treatment and rehabilitation for alcohol and drug abuse and mental health, and any other programs to reduce offending.
Judge Gwynne ruled that any time spent in treatment and programs could be counted towards community work.
Joyce was also fined $1000 for driving while suspended.
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