It did not take much to end a life and that could be done with a headbutt, Judge Crosbie said, sentencing Thomson in the Dunedin District Court yesterday to five months' home detention.
The fact his victim was not more badly injured was a matter of good luck.
The court was seeing too much of that sort of offending from young men. People needed to understand there would be serious consequences for engaging in such conduct, the judge said.
"I can send a message through sentencing that something needs to be done about it.
"Not that long ago, this sort of conduct would have landed you straight in jail," he told Thomson.
Thomson spent six weeks in jail after his arrest. He was on bail at the time for another matter that was later dropped, Judge Crosbie said.
From a starting point of 15 months' prison, the judge added three months for previous convictions. He then reduced the sentence to 10 months' prison to give credit for Thomson's efforts since the incident to address his offending.
They included attending counselling and an anti-violence programme, apologising to his victim and the authorities, being in steady employment, having the support of his family and employer and putting money aside to pay any emotional harm reparation ordered.
Judges were entitled to consider community-based sentences on prison sentences below two years, but he was not automatically going to do that because of the message he was trying to send, Judge Crosbie said.
However, he had to take into account the steps Thomson took to address his offending and sentenced him to five months' home detention instead.
Thomson was also ordered to pay $300 emotional harm reparation to his victim.
