A home invader who severed a Wangaratta man’s finger in a violent attack in his own kitchen has been jailed for six years and two months.

Steven Dobrowolski, 31, appeared virtually at County Court Melbourne on Wednesday to face his sentence, which comes with a four-year non-parole period after pleading guilty to aggravated home invasion and recklessly causing serious injury.

The court heard Dobrowolski and two co-accused took part in a “calculated and sustained” attack of a 52-year-old man inside his own Templeton Street home on 23 August last year.

The accused trio were looking to rob the man for drugs and money but instead inflicted three broken ribs, a partially severed middle finger and facial lacerations on the victim before rushing out of the home.

Dobrowolski, while on a drug and alcohol fueled bender, took part in planning the attack over a 24-hour period with the two co-accused, a 31-year-old woman and a 35-year-old man.

The victim had been seeing the female co-accused, a sex worker, and paying her with cash, ice and GHB in exchange for her services.

Prior to her attending the victim’s home on the night of 23 August, Dobrowolski sent messages asking the male co-accused to bring rope and a blindfold to tie the victim up and “knock him out”.

He went into the house around 10:30pm armed with a baton, a pocket knife and wore a bandana.

Dobrowolski entered the home, which had allegedly been left unlocked by the female co-accused.

The court heard the victim felt an electric shock from a taser to the ribs in his kitchen, allegedly carried by the co-accused, and was stomped on and hit multiple times with a hard object.

Dobrowolski fled after the attack and sent messages, saying “we split him like a watermelon”.

“He’s gonna have mad stitches… my f***ing knuckles are so swollen,” the messages read.

Dobrowolski and his alleged co-accused were arrested in the early hours of the next morning, after the female co-accused allegedly called police to say she had been assaulted at the address.

The defendant has been behind bars for the past 445 days.

Judge Pardeep Tiwana said the 52-year-old victim had been subjected to an unprovoked and remorseless attack.

“It’s clear the impact of your appalling offending on the victim has been significant,” he said.

“Citizens are entitled to feel safe in the sanctity of their own homes, the community must be protected from this kind of violence.”

The court heard the victim had to re-learn his profession due to his injuries and his sense of safety was “shattered” due to the life-changing crime.

Dobrowolski was living in Wangaratta at the time with his mother and stepfather and had a long-standing drug addiction due to a difficult upbringing.

His alleged co-accused are set to face court at later dates.

A County Court Wangaratta trial date in April next year has been set for the 35-year-old man as he looks to contest his charges while the woman faces a committal hearing in the Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court on 29 January.