Ballina machete attacker whose victim needed five hours of surgery has been jailed for two years after offending while already serving a community correction order for assault.
Akeiam Dennis Cook, 25, of Ballina, was sentenced by Judge K Crittenden at Ballina Local Court via video link from custody on Wednesday after previously pleading guilty to reckless wounding in company.
The judge revoked Cook’s community correction order and imposed an aggregate prison sentence covering both the machete offence and the earlier assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Ballina machete attack near Woolworths
The attack happened on River Street near Woolworths at about 7.55pm on Sunday, August 23.
According to police facts, Cook was the passenger on an e-bike who produced a machete following a brief discussion and struck a 22-year-old man on the lower right leg.
He then left with the rider, whom police allege was his aunt, Tahnee Daley.
Paramedics treated the victim before taking him to Lismore Base Hospital in a serious but stable condition.
A family member exclusively told The Coast Report the wound measured about eight centimetres long and three centimetres deep, just below his knee.
A large blood clot formed inside the leg, requiring surgeons to perform a fasciotomy to relieve the pressure, the family member said.
“It’s a massive wound,” they said at the time.
Cook was arrested two days later when police searched a Treelands Crescent home.
Eight months into Byron Bay assault order
Cook had been placed on a two-year community correction order by Magistrate G Dunlevy at Byron Bay Local Court on December 15, 2025.
The court had refused an application to deal with the assault under mental health diversion provisions before convicting Cook and imposing the community correction order.
The order required him to remain offence-free, undergo supervision through Lismore Community Corrections and follow directions concerning mental health and alcohol and drug counselling and treatment.
It was due to expire on December 14, 2027.
Judge Crittenden recorded indicative terms—the sentences that would have been imposed separately—of 24 months for the earlier assault and eight months for reckless wounding in company.
The aggregate sentence carries a 12-month non-parole period and was backdated to August 25, 2026.
Cook’s release to parole is set for August 24, 2027, with his full prison term expiring on August 24, 2028.
Co-accused pleads not guilty
Tahnee Lois Daley, has pleaded not guilty to reckless wounding in company.
She is on conditional bail with the matter listed for a further mention on October 29.
Her charge has not been determined.