A teenager who sliced another man's ear with a stolen crowbar has avoided prison.
Harry Garrett, of South Road, Bedminster, also burgled a vulnerable man's home in Chippenham.
The 19-year-old appeared at Swindon Crown Court for sentencing on Tuesday, July 29, after pleading guilty to burglary dwelling with intent to steal.
The court heard from prosecutor Ms McGee that the victim was in bed around 10pm at his Chippenham flat on July 24, 2023 when he heard a knock on the door and opened it to find a man wearing a dark face covering.
He tried to close the door, but the man forced his way into the flat, along with two other men, leaving the victim overpowered.
The trio pushed him against a wall and one of the men said he knew he had cannabis in the flat, so the group rifled through drawers threatening the victim and asking where they could find his money.
He told them he had £615 in cash in an envelope, but said he needed it for his rent, and one of the men threw £120 onto the ground.
When the victim asked them to leave, they did, but one of the men threatened to kick his door down if he reported the burglary to the police.
Nevertheless, the individual contacted the police and identified one of the suspects as Garrett, who was aged 17 at the time, and another man, who is due to be sentenced at a later date.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, the man said the incident had made him "disassociate from life" and he now feels "robotic".
He described not wanting to be alone in the flat and his dad also shared concerns about him, as he is autistic and his anxiety was so bad that he had to live with his dad for two weeks.
Garrett, who has three convictions for seven offences, jumped over a barrier in B&M, grabbed a crowbar and put it into his trouser leg, fleeing the shop without paying.
Ms McGee explained that the victim was walking through a graveyard to go to a shop to buy cider when he saw a group of men he knew.
He described Garrett running behind them when he suddenly ran directly at the victim while reaching for an item in his waistband, which turned out to be the stolen crowbar.
The defendant hit him around the head with the weapon and the victim was left needing nine stitches to his ear. The court also heard that a large piece of skin was missing, with assault leaving him with exposed cartilage.
In mitigation, Garrett's defence provided some context about the events leading up to the teenager's crimes, explaining that he had been adopted as a baby and met his birth mother in an "unplanned" and "unexplained" chance encounter in the town centre in summer 2023, which was very destabilising for him.
He was also the victim of an unprovoked attack when unidentified suspects smashed a bottle into his face in Swindon.
Garrett moved to Bristol shortly later, but two men broke into his flat and stabbed him in the face and hit him with an iron bar, so he jumped out of the window to escape them.
His lawyer added that Garrett's friend gave the impression that threats had been made by the victim of the crowbar attack and he "severely overreacted" and took the weapon from B&M defend himself.
She concluded that he had not been arrested or committed any violent offences for 14 months and his sentencing was "all or nothing", meaning either he could get his life back on track or he would have to adjust to life in prison.
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Judge Townsend acknowledged Garrett's concerns after being attacked but said the crowbar assault was "not spur of the moment".
"You armed yourself in advance by stealing the crowbar knowing there might be trouble", he said.
However, the judge referred to Garrett's "pretty exceptional unusual position" coming from a troubled background with a challenging start to life, and recognised his offending was triggered to an extent by his "chaotic and inappropriate introduction" to his birth mother.
Garrett was sentenced to two years in a young offender's institution suspended for two years.
"The aim of all this is to give you a chance", Judge Townsend told Garrett.
"It looks like you want to turn things round and I'm pretty confident you will try to do so."
The judge also commended Garrett's dad, who was sat in the public gallery, for continuing to support his son, addressing him directly to say he receives many statements from parents prior to sentencing, but thanking him for his "realistic and helpful" statement.
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