A thug involved in a terrifying home invasion has begged a judge to give him a lenient sentence so he avoids deportation.

Majok Aneet, 25, has pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary and recklessly causing injury after he and two co-accused barged into an Avondale Heights home where a man was badly beaten and a phone and laptop stolen in February last year.

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media_camera Majok Aneet was a promising young footballer before turning to crime. Picture: Victoria Police

By law, if he is jailed for 12 months or more, his global special humanitarian visa would be automatically cancelled and he would face deportation to South Sudan.

Facing the County Court today, his lawyer Jennifer Clarke pushed Judge Michael Tinney to sentence him to time already served, just over 220 days, and release him on a Community Corrections Order.

Having the risk of deportation hanging over his head would be extra punishment, she said.

Judge Tinney quipped: “I’m not meant to be taking steps to avoid those provisions.

“I’m here to sentence appropriately for the crime that has been committed. If the sentence is greater than 12 months, so be it.”

But Judge Tinney sympathised with the prospect.

“He’s looking down the barrel of being removed from the only country he’s ever known,” Judge Tinney said.

“Why would anyone think it’s appropriate to yank him out of the country is beyond me … but I’m just the judge passing sentence.”

In December 2014, the Migration Act was amended to include that anyone sentenced to more than 12 months in prison will have their visa immediately cancelled.

“Entering or remaining in Australia is a privilege, and it is expected that non-citizens are, and have been, law-abiding. Visa holders must also continue to satisfy the character requirement,” a fact sheet for Section 501 of the Migration Act reads.

The court heard Aneet was a promising young footballer who fled war-torn Sudan with his family, arriving in Australia in 2004.

As a teenager he showed potential on the field, playing in the TAC Cup for the Western Jets and reserves for the Werribee VFL squad.

But mixing with the wrong crowd and turning to drugs and alcohol saw him get into trouble.

Ms Clarke told an earlier court hearing Aneet had met someone in prison with links to an AFL club who planned to help him forge a footy career on his release.

His time in prison had allowed him to get on the straight and narrow, she said, producing reports from clean urine samples and certificates of courses he had complete.

Aneet did not commit any physical violence in the burglary, but instead stopped a witness from intervening as his co-accused attacked a male at the house, punching him and stomping on his ribs.

He will be sentenced on December 14.

rebekah.cavanagh@news.com.au