Matthew Albert Sheather, now 31-years-old, was sentenced to 18 months’ jail in May 2017 after he was convicted of recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm during a September 2015 incident that left his victim with a broken leg. 

The court decided to allow Sheather to serve his sentence in the community on the condition that he would not re-offend or break his good behaviour bond. 

Sheather appeared in Wagga’s District Court once again on Monday morning after he was found to be in possession of the drug ice in November last year, only a couple of months after his original sentence was handed down. 

District Court judge Gordon Lerve sentenced Sheather to 18 months’ jail to be served via an intensive correction order, giving the offender one more chance to serve out his time in the community. 

“I warn you that breaches of intensive correction orders are not dealt with by going back to a judge, they are dealt with by the Department of Corrections,” Judge Lerve told Sheather. 

“It is this court’s experience that almost always you will end up back in custody if you breach it.” 

The judge’s decision came after Sheather’s defence lawyer told the court that his client had been diligently attending a drug and alcohol rehabilitation course and had held down a part-time job as a wool handler near his home in Young. 

“If the court does afford him what he would regard as a last chance, he’s certainly aware of the fact that it would be a last chance,” Sheather’s lawyer said. 

Sheather’s intensive correction order will commence on May 21.