GUELPH — A man who knifed and seriously wounded his brother in an argument over a slice of pizza received a lengthy jail sentence Thursday in Guelph's Ontario Court of Justice.

Justice Elliott Allen sentenced Christian B. Hercules, 35, of Guelph, to 18 months in jail for aggravated assault, after deciding against a longer sentence of at least two years that would have meant a prison term.

But he didn't mince words on the seriousness of the crime, in which the man's brother was stabbed more than once and rushed to hospital for emergency care.

"This could easily have been a homicide," Allen said.