Jesus Maria Rodriguez Quijano, 51, and Kelvin Thomas Marshall Barton, 29, were both sentenced in the Hamilton District Court on Monday.

At the height of a heated standoff with a group of neighbours from across the road, an angry man asked: "What are you going to do, stab me?"

That was exactly what Jesus Maria Rodriguez Quijano did.

He thrust a knife at his victim, the blade connecting with his torso, under his left arm. Then he felled the man he had just stabbed with a punch to the face.

Rodriguez Quijano had been socialising with a group of associates at a house in Normandy Rd, Hamilton when, at 7pm on February 3, 2016 his soon-to-be victim began making insulting gestures towards him and his group from across the road.

It was the latest in a series of ill-tempered confrontations between the neighbours.

Rodriguez Quijano went into the house, got a knife from the kitchen and, accompanied by his friends, went across the road. The two men exchanged a series of insults before Rodriguez Quijano stabbed and punched his opponent.

The group went back across the road. However the injured man got to his feet and followed them, berating Rodriguez Quijano about what he had just done.

He was immediately set upon by the entire group and ended up being punched and kicked on the ground.

Almost two years after that violent incident, Rodriguez Quijano, 51, appeared in the Hamilton District Court on Monday, where he was sentenced to 10 months of home detention and 100 hours of community work on charges of wounding with intent to injure and injuring with intent to injure.

Judge Philip Connell told Rodriguez Quijano it was a sentence he was fortunate to be receiving.

"When someone uses a knife the way you did on this occasion, the courts generally impose a sentence of imprisonment.

"With some reservation I'm prepared to impose a sentence of home detention."

Rodriguez Quijano's victim had since died "through causes not in any way related to your offending," the judge said.

The victim's partner had not wanted to participate in a restorative justice conference, and no reparation had been ordered.

Rodriguez Quijano, who is Colombian, had been living in New Zealand for two years and had attained refugee status since his arrival.

Defence counsel Sheila Cameron said this factor had counted against him in his pre-sentence assessment. Because the report writer had been unable to obtain any information about his activities in his homeland, this was used as the basis for a recommendation of imprisonment.

"He has been striving over the last two years to do everything right in this country," she said, prior to sentencing.

Rodriguez Quijano wasn't the only stabber getting sentenced to 10 months of home detention in the Hamilton District Court on Monday.

Kelvin Thomas Marshall Barton, 29, appeared on charges of wounding with reckless disregard and male assaults female.

They related to an incident on the afternoon of Saturday, May 6, 2016 in Hamilton.

That morning Barton had gone to watch his brother play rugby in Te Awamutu. Afterward, they drank and continued to drink on their arrival back in Hamilton.

Barton became aggressive. His brother tried to calm him down and restrain him by tackling him to the ground.

Barton's partner also tried to pacify him, and he kicked her.

When his brother got off him, Barton went to a nearby vehicle to get a sharp knife, and continued to act aggressively.

His brother again tackled him to the ground, but this time Barton stabbed him in the back.

The wound was a large one and Barton's brother required hospital treatment. The police were called and Barton was arrested.

The court heard that Barton's brother bore no malice or resentment and had refused to say anything against him.

He was not able to be contacted to participate in a restorative justice conference.

Defence counsel Glenn Dixon said Barton had alcohol issues that he knew he had to address, and had participated in a six-week programme run by the Salvation Army.