20-year-old Sharma jailed over one-punch attack in Canberra

The court took into account Sharma's guilty plea and past good behaviour but said sending a message of deterrence was important.

Source: Fairfax Media

20-year-old Jordan Sharma has been sent to jail for a one-punch attack that left his victim with a shattered jaw on the New Year’s Day in Canberra.

The court in Canberra sentenced Sharma to two years and three months’ jail. He will spend nine months in jail and rest of his sentence will be suspended from April next year.

While sentencing Sharma, Justice Michael Elkaim mentioned he had an unblemished background, and said he had committed “a single act of immense stupidity which had the potential to result in the most severe of consequences”.

But justice Elkaim said the court had an obligation to send a message of deterrence.

Justice Elkaim said Sharma was highly intoxicated and “no doubt fuelled with the bravado generated by his alcohol consumption” when he punched the victim.

"The courts must emphasise to young people that the consumption of large amounts of alcohol, or drugs, that places them in situations where they act with reckless indifference towards other persons and cause very severe injuries is entirely inappropriate," Justice Elkaim said.

Sharma’s friends and family appeared shocked as the police led him out of the court in handcuffs.

The victim had suffered a broken jaw as a result of the one-punch attack on January 1 outside a convenience store in Braddon in Canberra.

Sharma handed himself to the police a week after the incident. The CCTV vision of the incident went viral showing Sharma striking the man while he was involved in an argument with another man.

He had initially pleaded not guilty to a charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm which he changed to guilty last month.