STATE OF TASMANIA v KAYDEN THOMAS JOHN MIDDENDORP 28 OCTOBER 2026
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE CUTHBERTSON J
Kayden Middendorf, you have pleaded guilty to a charge of wounding Troy Cowen on the evening of 8 July 2024 by striking him to the arm with a knife. Mr Cowen was your neighbour and friend at the time you committed this crime.
You went to the complainant’s home with your four-year-old daughter that night. You were already drunk when you arrived and drank more alcohol while there. Later in the evening, you had an aggressive conversation with someone on your phone. Because of your level of intoxication and behaviour, the complainant’s daughter offered to look after your own daughter, and you agreed. A short time later, another of the complainant’s friends came to his home. You became aggressive with her, called her derogatory names and spat on her. The complainant told you to calm down. You told him to “fuck off”. The complainant escorted you outside of his unit and locked the door. You left for a short period of time then returned and began kicking the door and yelling for your daughter to be returned to you. The complainant went to speak with you outside. You swung your fist at him but did not connect. The complainant placed you briefly in a headlock and then let you go. You attempted to punch him again. The complainant again put you in a headlock and told you, “Next time I’m not going to let you go”. The complainant let you go and pushed you away, then turned to walk away. You said something to him, and, as he turned in your direction, you swung at him again, making contact with his left arm. The complainant immediately felt blood rushing from his arm and realised had been stabbed. The complainant went inside his unit. You smashed the kitchen windows, climbed into the house and woke your sleeping daughter. The complainant saw you holding a machete. You left with your daughter and went to another neighbour’s house to seek help. You were visibly upset and told the neighbour that the complainant had been keeping your daughter from you. The neighbour asked you to drop the machete and called the police.
An ambulance and police attended. The complainant was bleeding heavily. He told police you had wounded him and you were arrested. You were very drunk. The complainant was transported to hospital. He had a 2 cm wound to the left antecubital fossa which is the triangular depression located on the front of the elbow. He needed surgery to explore and debride the wound. It was sutured. He was discharged from hospital on 12 July 2024.
You were interviewed the day after this offence. You told police that you remembered being “a bit fucking vocal last night because they tried to take my child off me and I’ve literally just got my daughter full-time”. You claimed the complainant was walking around with the machete and that you were the one telling the complainant to calm down. You admitted being pretty drunk. You denied having any memory of wounding the complainant.
You first appeared in the Hobart Magistrates Court on 18 September 2024 in relation to this matter. You pleaded not guilty and first appeared in this Court on 22 July 2025. At that time, you confirmed the matter was a trial. You first indicated you would plead guilty to this charge on 1 July 2026. Your counsel said that when your plea of not guilty was entered in the Magistrates Court, it was indicated this was not how the matter might resolve. Counsel were unable to explain why the ultimate indication of a plea of guilty was given so late in the piece, particularly in circumstances where the prosecution case appeared to be strong. The plea of guilty has, however, avoided the need for a trial and was entered before Crown papers were filed.
You are 23 years old. You were 21 years old at the time of committing this offence. You have no relevant prior matters. You had one prior court matter in 2022 where you were sentenced to a community correction order for driving offences. You have since been sentenced for a breach of bail by approaching the complainant in breach of conditions put in place for his protection. You received a wholly suspended sentence of imprisonment for that offence.
I am told that you had a dysfunctional childhood. Your parents separated when you are eight years old. Three of your siblings were placed in foster care but you remained in the care of your mother. She was a drug user. In that environment, you witnessed and experienced family violence perpetrated by your mother’s partner. You report being regularly abandoned by your mother between the ages of eight and 13. At such times, you often slept rough.
You returned to Tasmania to live with your father when you were aged 13. He provided you with a more stable environment. You continue to have a good relationship with your father and live in the same unit complex. While in your father’s care, you finished year 10 at school. After leaving school you worked as a labourer with your father in his plastering business. You have been unemployed for the last three years but are keen to obtain work once this matter is finalised.
You have two children to previous partners. Your youngest child lives with his mother. Your eldest daughter was in your care for approximately three years until she was returned to child safety care earlier this year. You are currently working to have her returned to you and are optimistic that this will happen. You currently live with your partner who is now four months pregnant.
It appears that you have engaged in problematic alcohol use from a young age. After committing this offence, you stopped drinking and have maintained abstinence without the assistance of alcohol counselling or intervention. You have previously used cannabis but report no longer using that substance. As for your offending, you have little recollection of wounding the complainant. The facts suggest that you sought help for complainant after the attack. I am told that you are remorseful for your conduct and also recognise the distress that you caused to your own daughter. Aside from the breach of bail, you have committed no other offences since wounding the complainant.
I had you assessed for suitability for community-based orders including home detention. Community corrections advise that you successfully completed a combined 160 hours of community service in 2022 and 2023 with good engagement. You have been assessed as suitable for home detention. You have stable accommodation. Community corrections recommend that any order for home detention also include requirements that you submit to supervision, not take illicit or prohibited substances or consume alcohol. They also recommend you be excluded from licensed premises during any period of home detention. You have also been assessed as suitable for the imposition of community service.
Mr Middendorp, this is a serious offence. You had no reason to use violence against the complainant, let alone use a bladed weapon. You were drunk and acting aggressively and irrationally. The complainant tried to de-escalate the situation and calm you down, efforts you ignored. The overall circumstances suggest that you were completely out of control. It must have been a very frightening experience for everyone involved, including your young daughter. I have not been provided a victim impact statement in this case. I have no doubt your conduct caused the complainant pain and distress. I am told it was difficult to stop the bleeding. It must have been particularly upsetting as he had been your friend for a long time and he appears to have been acting in your daughter’s best interests.
The community is rightly concerned about the use of bladed weapons and the very significant harm they can cause. General deterrence and denunciation are important sentencing considerations. To your credit, you have taken steps to address your problematic use of alcohol which was clearly a factor in your offending on this occasion. Your absence of prior convictions for violent offences suggest this was out of character conduct and that you have good prospects of rehabilitation.
A period of imprisonment is clearly warranted in this case. I have determined that it would be appropriate, however, to impose a home detention order instead. It is a requirement of such orders that you be at your home detention premises during the times specified in the order. Community corrections have assessed you as suitable for two particular options. The first would require you to remain at your home between 7 PM and 7 AM each day. The second would require you to be at home at all times except between 10 AM and 3 PM. You were assessed as unsuitable for an option for home detention requiring you to remain at your residence at all times unless approved by a probation officer. These assessments were based on your assessed risk level and identified criminogenic needs which Community Corrections deemed did not warrant the level of restriction imposed by full-time confinement. They outline in their report that this option, namely full-time confinement, “is reserved for individuals whose risks cannot be managed under less restrictive models”. As I have previously observed, the determination by a court of the terms of a person’s confinement to the home detention residence is not only based on management of risk but also needs to consider what is required to adequately punish the offender. Clearly an order where a person is free to leave the home detention premises on a regular basis is less onerous than one where a person may only leave those premises with the agreement of a probation officer for particular purposes. The terms of the order which I impose relating to your confinement to the home detention premises will take into account what is required by way of appropriate punishment and the management of your risk in the community. In addition, I have determined that it is also appropriate to impose a community correction order with a requirement that you perform community service.
Kayden Middendorp, you are convicted of the charge of wounding. You are sentenced to home detention for an operational period of nine months. The home detention order takes effect from today.
The terms of the home detention orders will be set out in a written document that will be provided to you. All core conditions of the home detention orders will be in force for the operational period of the orders. Those core conditions include that you:
- Must not commit an offence that is punishable by imprisonment;
- You must reside at the home detention premises, namely **address**;
- ou must be at the home detention premises at all times except between 10:00am to 3:00pm each day, unless with the approval of a probation officer or prescribed officer for particular purposes which will be set out in the order;
- You must comply with any reasonable and lawful directions of a probation officer or prescribed officer, including any directions as to the kind of employment, or the place of employment;
- You must submit to electronic monitoring including by wearing or carrying an electronic device;
- You must, if directed to do so by a police officer, probation officer or prescribed officer, submit to a breath test, urine test, or other test, for the presence of an illicit drug;
- You must, if directed by a probation officer or a prescribed officer to engage in a personal development activity, counselling, or treatment, engage in the activity, counselling or treatment in accordance with any directions given by the probation officer or prescribed officer.
Your home detention order is also subject to the following special conditions during the operational period of the order:
- You must attend the Community Corrections office at Level 1, 75 Liverpool Street, Hobart for induction onto this order no later than 12:00pm today;
- You must maintain in operating condition an active mobile phone service, provide the contact details to Community Corrections and be accessible for contact through this device at all times;
- You must submit to the supervision of a Community Corrections officer as required by that officer;
- You must not take any illicit or prohibited substances. Illicit and prohibited substances include:
- Any controlled drug as defined by the Misuse of Drugs Act 2001 (Tas);
- Any medication containing an opiate, benzodiazepine, bupropion, hydrochloride or pseudoephedrine unless you provide written evidence from your medical professional that you have been prescribed the relevant medication;
- You must not consume alcohol, and you must, if directed to do so by a police officer or Community Corrections officer, submit to a breath test, urine test, or other test, for the presence of alcohol;
- You must not, enter upon or remain upon any licensed premises (excluding cafes, theatres, cinemas and ten-pin bowling venues) unless approved in advance by the probation officer.
In addition, I make a community correction order for a period of 12 months. That order is also subject to a number of core conditions which will be provided to you in writing. They include that you report to a probation officer at the office of Community Corrections at 75 Liverpool Street in Hobart by 12:00pm today. In addition to the core conditions, the order shall also include the special condition that during the period of the order you must satisfactorily perform community service as directed by a probation officer or supervisor for a period of 75 hours.
Mr Middendorp, if you are foolish enough to breach the conditions of either of these orders, or if you commit another offence punishable by imprisonment while those orders are in force, this may result in the matter being brought back to the Court on breach proceedings. Such proceedings could result in revocation of the order or orders and resentencing, including the imposition of a period of imprisonment.