Serial thug gets jail sentence reduced on appeal

Shortly after midnight on December 17, 2021, Jingu Kim was walking along Lonsdale Street as the father and son walked behind him.

Stephens began arguing with the 35-year-old man and then started punching his head and body, with the fight spilling out into a pedestrian crossing.

As he tried to get away, Mr Kim managed to trip Stephens and leant over him.

But Stephens' father Jared Pihlgren pulled a knife from his bag and stabbed him in the back.

The knife penetrated Mr Kim's lung and left him with spinal bone injuries.

Mr Kim staggered and Pihlgren then slashed him in the back of his head, before Stephens inflicted a final blow by stomping on his head.

The pair fled and left Mr Kim lying on the pavement with life-threatening injuries, surrounded by blood.

Emergency services arrived within five minutes of the attack and Mr Kim's life was saved, however the injuries will impact him forever.

Stephens, who was jailed for five years and nine months in the County Court with a minimum of three years and three months, successfully appealed that term.

The court found the injuries Stephens inflicted were not as severe as those his father caused. (James Ross/AAP PHOTOS)

Victoria's Court of Appeal re-sentenced Stephens to four years and three months in prison on Tuesday, with a minimum of two years and nine months.

President Karin Emerton and Justice Stephen McLeish found the original sentence was manifestly excessive and the injuries Stephens inflicted were not as severe as the wounds perpetrated by his father.

They acknowledged Stephens had a "poor criminal record" despite his youth and said there was a clear need for community protection from him given his offending against a senior police official in 2019.

"His quite recent conviction for recklessly causing serious injury is especially relevant, involving as it did another unprovoked attack in public on a defenceless stranger," the judges said.

"Stomping on a person's head, in a public place, is a despicable act."

Pihlgren was jailed for 12 years with a non-parole period of eight, and appealed his sentence but was unsuccessful due to the seriousness of his offending.

"This was a vicious and cruel attack in a public place, on a complete stranger who was minding his own business until he found himself being attacked by the offender's son," the judges said.

"The violent intervention of Mr Pihlgren escalated the violence immeasurably and inflicted the two grave and life-threatening injuries."

Stephens and his brother Isaiah bashed Victoria Police assistant commissioner Chris O'Neill on the grounds of the elite St Kevin's school in Toorak in June 2019.

Mr O'Neill was left with broken ribs, bleeding on the brain and chest and spent two days in hospital.

Stephens was jailed for 20 months over that attack.