Machete man's judgment upheld

A CHINESE student attacked a man with a machete, severely damaging his shoulder, after the drunken victim came to his Wollongong unit looking for the brothel that used to operate in the apartment, a court has heard.

Shenbao Lu, 23, sliced the man's shoulder with an Asian-style "chopper" when the belligerent victim refused to believe the Crown Street unit's one-time "massage parlour" was no longer in business and threatened to damage Lu's car.

The engineering graduate was found guilty of reckless wounding in June and given a suspended jail term but appealed the outcome, claiming he had acted in self-defence.

Upholding Lu's conviction yesterday, Judge Paul Conlon told Wollongong District Court he was satisfied Lu had not acted reasonably in the circumstances, noting the victim's wound was one of the largest he had seen.

Lu, now living in Fairy Meadow, had just moved into the unit when the drunken victim started turning up, twice wanting to be let in for sexual favours from the apartment's former occupants, the court was told.

Lu informed him the premises were now strictly residential but the victim returned again around 2am on March 2, extremely intoxicated and demanding entry.

When the victim refused to believe Lu's pleas that the massage parlour had closed, a verbal confrontation occurred and the man threatened to "smash" Lu's car.

Despite the victim's mate urging them to leave, the victim ran downstairs, warning Lu he was going to "beat him up".

Lu then armed himself with a large machete, later telling police he had simply intended to scare the men and ran downstairs.

He was immediately confronted by the victim, who had taken off his shirt, readying for a fight.

The victim then ran towards Lu and punched him before Lu struck the victim's shoulder with the blade, the court heard.

Judge Conlon told the court Lu had armed himself with a fearsome weapon, noting if he had been planning to simply scare the man there was no evidence he had brandished the weapon prior to the offence.

He conceded the incident was unusual but was satisfied Lu's actions were not a reasonable response.

"[Lu] found himself in most unfortunate circumstances; [he was] confronted by a belligerent, intoxicated man who attended his premises as he thought he would be able to obtain and pay for sexual favours," the judge said.

"The threat was made, Lu armed himself with a weapon and he was confronted by a belligerent victim who had taken off his shirt and was no doubt ready to come and assault him."

Downgrading Lu's suspended jail term to a good behaviour bond, Judge Conlon noted Lu had no criminal record and was planning to return to China.