A 25-year-old father was sentenced to 18 months in prison after wielding a two-foot machete and slicing the victim on his hand and shoulder.

Mario Rashon Pascoe, 25, pleaded guilty on June 6 to causing grievous bodily harm to Robert Luis Fabian, on September 24, 2006.

He appeared at Supreme Court yesterday for sentencing.

Around 11.30 p.m. on September 24, 2006, Mr. Fabian said he went to visit his friend Ajhun Walker in St. George's. Mr. Walker and Pascoe were in the basement watching TV.

Earlier that year, around Cup Match time, Mr. Fabian had gotten into an argument with Pascoe's brother Mark and the defendant had heard about it.

After a short conversation on September 24 between the defendant and Mr. Fabian, the complainant began to leave when he felt a hard blow to the left side of his face.

When he looked at Pascoe he saw him raise his left fist and a machete in the other hand.

Two blows from the machete rained down on the victim's helmet leaving two marks that were about seven to eight centimetres long.

After kicking and punching the victim, Pascoe grabbed Mr. Fabian and held the machete to the back of his neck saying: "I should cut your head off."

He then flipped the victim over and ran the machete across his hand and shoulder leaving Mr. Fabian with a cut on his shoulder that required nine stitches.

It was not until November 2, 2007, however, that the Police arrested the defendant and during the interview he made no comment.

Yesterday, Pascoe, who has one previous conviction for using offensive words, said they were both fighting and he was just lucky it had been him that grabbed the machete first.

"I was down there three hours before he got there. I didn't know he was going to arrive down there. We started arguing, we started scuffling," he said.

"It got a bit more extreme than it was supposed to. I didn't attack him out of the blue. We were both fighting. He was trying to reach the machete but I got it.

"If not I may have been the one here chopped up. But I was wrong and I will have to suffer the consequences one way or another."

His defence lawyer Elizabeth Christopher argued for a reduced sentence for his guilty plea and because he was a father of two.

Puisne Justice Carlisle Greaves said he took these into account and sentenced Pascoe to 18 months imprisonment including time already served while in custody waiting sentencing followed by three years probation.

He added: "The message we must get across is that the one who bears the sword in one hand bears prison in the other."