A man has been jailed for a number of crimes including stalking a university student, nearly severing his mother's thumb before burning her house down, and stabbing two strangers in Melbourne.
Damen Stephens, 43, was described by County Court of Victoria Judge Lisa Hannan as "a danger to the community" and suffered "schizotypal, obsessional, paranoid, narcissistic personality traits".
He previously pleaded guilty to three counts of stalking, one count of possessing child pornography, three counts of intentionally causing injury and one count of arson.
In January 2012, Stephens began stalking a young woman he met at university, contacting her on Facebook and persisting over a number of years.
In August 2014, police seized his computer, finding 519 child exploitation images.
In October 2017, Stephens contacted his staking victim, telling her: "My name is not important, but you may call me Odin for now, and master, as I slice and pull your face off. I'm not sure if your eyes will come off then, but it won't matter - you will see my face and you will know".
On October 6, Stephens brutally attacked his mother - who he was living with at the time.
He punched her to the head several times and placed his forearm around her neck, trying to choke her, as she attempted to stop him by hitting him with a dog bowl and trying to gouge at his eyes.
Stephens then bit his mother's thumb, partially amputating it.
In the early hours of the following morning, he set fire to his mother's Malvern home, sending pictures of the blaze to his stalking victim.
"The house was destroyed, along with all of your mother's possessions. The damage was estimated at some $420,000," Judge Hannan said.
Later that same day, he attacked two men outside a St Kilda bottle shop with a 30cm knife.
One man needed 22 stitches and part of his tricep removed, while the other needed five stitches.
Police then went searching for Stephens, finding an 824-page journal on his mother's laptop, with 218 pages dedicated to his stalking victim.
Judge Hannon described Stephens' stalking as "calculated, prolonged and verbally violent".
"Your threats were extreme and included threats to kill her and her family and graphic descriptions of torture," she said.
"In my view you are a danger to the community and that risk must be carefully managed upon your eventual release."
A psychiatric report showed Stephens likely had schizophrenia triggered by an underlying vulnerable personality and cannabis use, and that he was a man "with poor self-regulatory capacity, heightened sensitivity and low frustration tolerance".
Stephens was jailed on Friday for 11 years and one month, and must serve at least eight years before being eligible for parole.
Australian Associated Press
