A 22-year-old "bully" who assaulted a man eventually putting him in hospital was sentenced to 18 months behind bars.

Devon Rohan Hewey, of Palmetto Road in Pembroke, denied committing common assault and aggravated burglary, however he was found guilty by unanimous Supreme Court jury.

Yesterday during sentencing, the court heard Hewey assaulted 54-year-old Derrick Astwood by throwing a stone at him on April 15 last year.

The stone hit Mr. Astwood's wrist causing damage to his watch and pain to his arm.

Once Mr. Astwood realised his watch was damaged he went to Hewey's home, which Hewey shares with his parents, to confront him.

In what was described as a "revenge" attack two days later, Hewey and another man broke into Mr. Astwood's niece's home armed with weapons, namely a machete.

They attacked Mr. Astwood causing wounds to his head, back and arm. He needed to be hospitalised and claims to still suffer back pain from his injuries.

Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves said Hewey behaved as an "unapologetic, arrogant bully".

"He bullied a victim he thought he could take advantage of and did so with impunity.

"My view is the second attack (of aggravated burglary) was an escalation of that bullying disposition in respect to this particular victim and was carried out in revenge of his complaining two nights before in the vicinity of the defendant's home.

"The evidence shows that this defendant was in a habit of often bullying this defendant.

"Not only by throwing a stone that hit him, but prior to that he set a dog out on him, a pit bull, in the presence of his friends and then treated it as a joke."

According to Hewey's lawyer Craig Attridge, the attacks were an "aberration" and not likely to happen again.

"He is going to get that help to make sure it doesn't happen again with the help of probation services.

"I am asking you to see this as an aberration and give Mr. Hewey a chance to pull his family back together before it goes too far."

Mr. Attridge said Hewey's child was suffering from a serious health condition and would be abroad undergoing surgery later this week.

He also said Hewey's partner was facing financial hardship without his support and was recently arrested due to unpaid debts.

Mr. Attridge said it would be better to give his client a community order rather than jail time; and said if imprisonment was necessary it should be within the region of 18 months.

"Mr. Hewey is not a man of a violent nature, he is not a man that is to quick to (raise his) temper," he added.

In his own defence Hewey said: "If I was granted one more chance you would never see me here again. I just want to take care of my son who is very sick."

Prosecutor Nicole Smith however said a term of four to five years would be more appropriate considering the facts of the case.

"It was a vicious, arrogant kind of attack. It shows the defendant to have been a bully and to have preyed on Mr. Astwood.

"The crown says in this jurisdiction normally (a term of) imprisonment should be one with the object of deterrence because of the particular features of this community, this small community."

She argued that Hewey's family challenges growing up were not "exceptional circumstances" and said neither was the ill health of his child.

Justice Greaves said there should be zero tolerance for that kind of behaviour.

He ordered Hewey to serve six months imprisonment for the common assault and three years imprisonment for the aggravated burglary, to run concurrently.

Justice Greaves said half of the jail time should be suspended for three years and also gave him three years probation and a compensation order.

This means Hewey will serve approximately 18 months in jail for both offences.

Once out of prison, if he breaches his probation order he will be brought back before the courts and will have to serve the remainder of his three year sentence.

Hewey also has to repay Mr. Astwood $5,902 for his injuries and Mr. Astwood's niece $751.31 for damages caused to her Marsh Folly Road home during the attack.