Community work after knife threat

A CORIO man was ordered to do 100 hours of community work yesterday after confronting a former friend with a knife in the doorstep of a home in Manifold Heights.

The Geelong Magistrates’ Court heard Brook Ronan poked his victim in the eye before the man noticed he was brandishing a knife and shut his front door.

Ronan, 37, admitted he then stabbed the screen door and front door repeatedly with the knife, during the confrontation on March 25.

His lawyer told the court, the defendant was acting in “retaliation”, alleging the victim had punched his client days earlier.

The court heard the Rohan’s actions were influenced by feelings of “stress, distress, rejection and (the consumption of) alcohol”, but he was working to address those problems and had stopped drinking.

But magistrate Gregory McNamara was told Ronan had a prior offence of a similar nature.

He resisted a request to fine the man, arguing the offence demanded a community corrections order.

“It’s a very serious thing to be armed with a knife and threaten somebody in the way that you did,” the magistrate said.

Ronan pleaded guilty to counts of criminal damage, unlawful assault and possessing a controlled weapon.

He was ordered to complete 100 hours of community work over the next year and complete programs for treatment of drug and alcohol abuse and address reoffending.