Neihana Robert Patrick (24) went to the Musselburgh property, the Dunedin District Court heard earlier this week, because he believed someone had sexually assaulted his ex-partner.
He later admitted he had been wrong.
Patrick pleaded guilty to burglary and assault with a weapon and had spent nearly a year behind bars on remand.
However, in the last three months he had been undertaking intensive rehabilitation at Moana House, Judge Kevin Phillips said.
"He has applied himself diligently," he said.
Rather than send Patrick back to prison for a few months, the judge said the better outcome for the defendant’s future and the long-term benefit of the community was to keep him in rehab.
He sentenced the defendant to 18 months’ intensive supervision and six months’ community detention.
Patrick made headlines in 2017 when he fired a shotgun at another vehicle as he drove through central Dunedin.
He was jailed for two years two months for that and was at the end of his release conditions when the most recent incident occurred, on October 5 last year.
Patrick — wrestling with a serious methamphetamine addiction — had driven past his ex-partner’s home several times and recognised a vehicle outside.
When he returned to the street a few hours later it had gone, and he went inside and found the woman in an intoxicated state.
Patrick mistakenly formed the belief someone had raped her and he thought he knew who.
The person whose vehicle had been parked outside would know where that person was, he thought.
When Patrick walked into the man’s bedroom armed with a knife, he was in a "highly agitated state", the court heard.
Hearing a commotion, a woman who lived there went to see what was happening.
The defendant reacted by lashing out at her, throwing "haymakers" at her ribs.
Immediately, the victim’s dog leapt to her defence.
Patrick stabbed it in the front right leg before running off.
The dog needed staples to close the wound and the woman had "suffered immeasurably", the judge said.
She continued to suffer panic attacks, the court heard, and felt nervous leaving the house.
Judge Phillips said it was no surprise Patrick had become addicted to methamphetamine, given he had been around the drug so much through his youth.
He had grown up in a house where the substance was produced and smoked.
The judge said Patrick was "valiantly" trying to leave that life behind.
"He can only escape it by hard work," he said.
Patrick was ordered to pay the victims $559 to cover the veterinary bills.
