Andrew Howells, 26, and Cooper Taylor-Richardson, 25, both of Numurkah, pleaded guilty in Shepparton County Court to charges of home invasion and aggravated assault.
Taylor-Richardson also pleaded guilty to possessing cannabis.
The court heard the pair went to a Mooroopna house, knocked on the door, and pushed their way into the home when the door was opened by a woman who lived there at 8.30pm on June 18 last year.
Howells then hit the woman’s partner in the face, before that man ran out of the house and sought refuge at a service station.
The court heard the woman at the house was a relative of Howells’ former partner.
After the assaulted man left, Howells pulled down the bandanna that was covering his face and said he was there because the man he assaulted “hit” her.
Howells told police he “wanted to teach the man a lesson”.
In handing down her sentence, Judge Wendy Wilmoth said the incident would have been terrifying for the residents of the house.
She said that while only Howells punched the man, Taylor-Richardson had been present to act as a threat.
Judge Wilmoth also berated the men for being there.
“Another man’s wrongdoing cannot be dealt with by vigilante behaviour,” she said.
The court also heard that at the time of the incident Howells was on a court-imposed adjourned undertaking to be of good behaviour, after charges that included threatening to inflict serious injury.
The home invasion also occurred just days after the end of an 18-month community corrections order, which had followed six months in jail.
Taylor-Richardson had only appeared in court once before, on charges that included assault, where he was given an adjourned undertaking to be of good behaviour.
Judge Wilmoth detailed Howells’ defence, which included that he had been abused as a child and had used alcohol and drugs from an early age.
She said the offending related to the abuse and social disadvantage in his own childhood.
In sentencing Taylor-Richardson, Judge Wilmoth said while his offence was lesser in that he didn’t plan the incident and didn’t hit the man, he had equally played a part in the intimidation of the man.
“You were there as a threat,” Judge Wilmoth said.
“Your presence was serious.”
She did, however, note his childhood, which included seeing his father injured in a workplace accident when he was 10, and then going to live with his mother where she said “his life became centred around drug use”.
However, Judge Wilmoth said he had reacted positively to drug counselling since the incident.
Howells was sentenced to five years in prison, and must serve three years and six months before becoming eligible for parole.
The 344 days he had spent in pre-sentence detention will count as time already served.
Taylor-Richardson was sentenced to four years in prison, and set a two-year non-parole period.
He was also fined $300 for drug possession after cannabis was found when police searched his home.
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