A Tasmanian man who bit off part of another man’s ear during a drunken brawl will be subject to a nightly curfew and alcohol ban for two and a half years after being deemed a high-risk offender.
The Supreme Court recently made the order against Luke David Buck, finding he posed an “unacceptable risk of committing a serious offence in the future” unless supervised in the community.
Buck, 42, had been continuously in custody since 2020, with the order taking effect when he was released on June 1.
Justice Kate Cuthbertson found Buck had repeatedly committed violent offences since the age of 20, almost always while affected by alcohol and often illicit drugs.
Across his offending, victims suffered fractured jaws, facial fractures and, in the ear-biting case, a permanent deformity.
“It is fortunate he has not caused more serious harm given the level of violence he has deployed on some of those occasions,” Justice Cuthbertson said.
The court heard Buck had spent more than 14 years in custody since receiving his first prison sentence in 2010 and had repeatedly breached parole.
A psychologist who assessed Buck found he posed a “chronic, moderate to high risk for future inter-personal violence”, driven by substance use and personality traits rather than mental illness.
Buck did not oppose the order but challenged two of its conditions – the curfew and alcohol ban.
Justice Cuthbertson imposed both, along with a ban on illicit drugs, mandatory testing and requirements to undergo counselling and treatment.
She said alcohol was “a significant, if not the main, risk factor for the respondent’s violent offending” and needed to be actively managed.
Buck could later ask the court to relax the alcohol ban if he demonstrated greater insight into his drinking.
The court heard Homes Tasmania had offered him accommodation.
