A man who used part of a fence to hit another man in the head at George Town has been jailed.
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Kurt Stanley James, 37, of Lindisfarne, was approached by the victim at a service station in George Town on March 20, 2017.
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The victim noticed James yelling and swearing at a woman who had been crying.
After the victim asked James to stop abusing the woman, James grabbed a picket from a fence and ran at the victim.
He struck the back of the victim's head and fled the scene.
When police arrested James in August 2017 he admitted he was in a fight but falsely claimed he acted in self-defence because the victim and another man were armed with a knife and posed a threat to his safety.
James pleaded guilty and was sentenced in the Launceston Supreme Court on Friday.
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While Justice Robert Pearce noted the assault caused no lasting or serious physical injury to the victim, he said James had a history of resorting to violence to deal with disputes.
"You have a long record for offences of dishonesty and violence," Justice Pearce told James.
"You have been in prison many times."
The court heard James was previously sentenced to time behind bars for shooting a man and a serious attack on his ex-partner which involved him choking her with a belt.
"You stabbed her in the thigh with a screwdriver," Justice Pearce said.
The court heard James had also assaulted a police officer and was previously involved in the assault of prison officers when he was an inmate at Risdon Prison in 2010.
Justice Pearce said James was out on bail when he assaulted the man at George Town and had been recently diagnosed with cancer, but was expected to make a full recovery.
"I do not see that it should affect the sentence I should impose," Justice Pearce said.
James had a drug problem and endured serious abuse and neglect as a child which led to post traumatic stress disorder, the court heard.
After Justice Pearce considered James' record and personal circumstances, he handed down an eight month prison sentence,
With time already served taken into account, James will serve an extra four months in jail. He is expected to be eligible for release in early 2021.
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