Richard Matthew Jose, aged 51, of Gawthorne Place, Mudgee, and Brendan Sarkozy, aged 22, of Ryan Street, South Grafton, were both sentenced to 18 months good behaviour for the charge of ‘Affray’.

On Monday, February 1, 2016, the victim of the incident – a man that Jose had previous history with, including an assault matter in 2015 – was visiting across the road from Jose’s home.

Sarkozy, who was visiting his father, walked past the victim that afternoon and a short verbal exchange took place.

He returned a short time later and the pair started yelling at each other, before meeting in the middle of the road and started throwing punches.

Sarkozy picked up a rock and struck the victim with it in his left eye.

Jose heard the noise of the altercation from inside his house, he grabbed a metal pole then came out and began swinging it at the victim.

The victim then retrieved a steel tube from the back of his friend’s ute and hit Jose in the head with it, causing a laceration.

The incident escalated further when a teenager involved shot the victim in the wrist using a shortened .22 rifle.

Sarkozy’s solicitor, Tracy Jackson, told the court that this “matter wasn’t planned” rather that it “escalated”.

Jose’s solicitor, Ken Lambeth, said with the history with the victim this was “building up and came to a head” and he was “acting out of the safety” of his son.

Magistrate Terry Lucas said, “whichever way you look at this, it’s a fiasco that Mudgee can do without”.