A 39-year-old man was sentenced to two years in prison for aggravated assault when his case was called in provincial court in St. John’s today.
Daniel Johnson will also be on probation for three years upon his release.
He had pleaded guilty to the offence which involved a vicious attack on a man he didn’t even know because he heard the man was having an affair with his friend’s girlfriend.
Judge Robert Hyslop called the attack “savage and brutal.”
The facts of the case state the attack occurred Sept. 14, 2011. Johnson had been drinking most of the day with a group of people, including his friend, when the man came in the house.
An argument broke out when it was revealed his friend's girlfriend had been cheating on him with the man.
Minutes later, Johnson grabbed the man, who had been sitting on the couch, and hit him numerous times with a three-foot-long steel bar.
The man managed to grab the bar and throw it out the door and into the woods.
Johnson then repeatedly punched the man who managed to crawl to the bathroom and lock the door.
But Johnson smashed the door and continued to hit him.
His friend — who Johnson thought he was helping — even tried to stop the attack.
Johnson finally left, leaving the man badly injured in a pool of blood. Police and an ambulance were called.
The man was taken to hospital, where he received treatment for a fractured leg, which required surgery, and a large gash on the head, which needed several stitches to close the wound.
He was in hospital for about a week.
The sentence is in line with what Crown prosecutor Wendy Zdebiak had suggested.
Defence lawyer Arnold Hussey had suggested a year in prison with a period of probation.
