Machete-wielding home invader who assaulted father and daughter asks for forgiveness

A man who invaded a home while wielding a machete has been jailed until 2024 after he assaulted a father and daughter, but has asked for forgiveness for his actions.

Kleantis Eric Stasinos first drove to a home in Dickson around 3 am on 30 November 2022 where security cameras filmed him walking up its driveway, ACT Supreme Court Justice Verity McWilliam said.

He damaged a door and yelled “F-ing dog, open your door bruv”, before driving away.

About half an hour later, he entered a home in Giralang, went into a bedroom where two residents were sleeping and yelled something like, “Where’s Jack?”, while waving a machete.

Fearing for her safety, one of the residents took him to see her father, while he shouted, “He knows why I’m f-ing here, I’m Clancy I’m here for the f-ing parts”.

When they arrived, he struck the father in the face, knocking him to the ground and causing him to black out.

The woman tried to protect her father when Stasinos tried to hit him again and he struck her in the face instead, making her bleed.

Stasinos apologised to her but then continued to assault her father, knocking him to the ground again, until the woman was able to push him away and he left.

Police arrived to see the father with injuries to his face and blood splattered in his bedroom.

They also saw closed-circuit television footage that showed Stasinos walking up the driveway to the home while removing a machete from under his shirt.

In a statement for the court, the woman spoke of being frozen with fear, of Stasinos screaming incoherently and of watching her father be punched in the head so hard that he fell to the floor and his eye became swollen shut.

She also described frantically ringing the police and going to pieces after Stasinos left her house.

Meanwhile, the father spoke about feeling overwhelming guilt that he was unable to protect his daughter from the ordeal.

“The circumstances in which the offence occurred made it likely that the victims would be traumatised,” Justice Verity McWilliam said in her sentencing remarks from earlier this month.

She also said the assault on the father was “intentional, forceful and caused significant injury”.

Stasinos was arrested on the same day as the home invasion and he pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated burglary, damaging property and two counts of assault.

Justice McWilliam said the now-31-year-old had struggled with drug addiction for many years and had started university studies and a chef apprenticeship, but didn’t finish either.

“He presented to the court as an articulate man with insight into both his offending and its consequences, and what appeared to be an appreciation that he is not living up to his potential,” she said.

“The offender has also written an email to the court, asking for forgiveness against the people he has hurt and telling them that he is truthfully sorry.”

Stasinos has been in custody for eight months, but some of this time was not solely referrable for these offences.

He was sentenced to a total of 20 months’ jail with a non-parole period of 10 months, which means he is eligible to be released from prison in January 2024.