yesterday after attacking a woman with a machete in May last year.

Derek Stanley Astwood, 26, of Crane Lane, pleaded guilty to wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and possession of an offensive weapon in public.

He attacked a woman after she had chased him with a steel pipe following a heated argument in the victim's friend's yard on Glebe Road.

After the argument, the victim chased Astwood, following him up Glebe Road towards the Seventh-Day Adventist church.

She eventually left and Astwood fetched a machete then returned.

In a statement to Police, a witness saw the victim moving toward Astwood with the pipe held over her head and Astwood with the machete down along his leg, backing away.

The witness did not see the actual assault when Astwood struck the victim three times in the head, arm and leg.

Mr. Wolfe said doctors' statements suggested the victim was on the ground and rolling away from the assailant at the time of the attack.

In a statement to Police, the victim said Astwood attacked her before she had a chance to stand up from a rock she was sitting on, with the steel pipe laying in her lap.

Astwood voluntarily turned himself into Police the day after the assault and was subsequently arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. He also helped to recreate the incident with Police investigators.

Astwood's previous record includes a recent three-year incarceration in the Westgate Correctional Facility for similar offences.

Crown counsel Juan Wolfe pushed for a six-year custodial sentence and asked Puisne Judge Norma Wade-Miller to bear in mind the severity of the head injuries.

Defence lawyer Richard Horseman asked Mrs. Justice Wade-Miller to take into consideration Astwood's co-operation with Police.

But Mrs. Justice Wade-Miller said: "I will accept there was an element of provocation but certainly the wounding was disproportionate.'' Mr. Horseman suggested a sentence of two to three years considering the provocation on the part of the victim.

Mr. Wolfe called such a sentence, "a slap on the wrist''.

"You have to balance the interest of the community and to the complainant -- there must be some justice for her,'' he said.

Mrs. Justice Wade-Miller responded "undoubtedly'' before handing down the sentence.

"This is a very grave wounding,'' she said. "The nature of the injury and the circumstances are serious enough to warrant an immediate custodial sentence.

"I accept that there are some elements of provocation but your attack was completely disproportional.

He was sentenced to four years for wounding and one year to be served concurrently for possessing an offensive weapon.