Cecil Paul Briggs won’t be eligible for release for at least a decade after learning his fate in the Sydney Supreme Court yesterday afternoon.

Briggs violently attacked his friend, Douglas James Bindley at Mr Bindley’s Brown St unit in a fit of rage on December 24, 2012.

Using a small, black baseball bat and a wooden chair leg, Briggs, who had been drinking at the time, attacked Mr Bindley, striking him at least 24 times and leaving him seriously injured.

Two men in a shop across the road heard an argument in the unit and police were called before Briggs was arrested.

The 47-year-old victim was taken to Armidale hospital, but his condition deteriorated and he died on Boxing Day.

Before he died, Mr Bindley had managed to tell detectives who attacked him, adding “[Cecil] was going off at me and he came inside,” before detailing the assault. 

New England detectives arrested and charged Briggs with the assault but the offences were upgraded to murder following Mr Bindley’s death.

Justice Richard Button found the injuries inflicted by Briggs, combined with the pre-existing frailty of the victim, led to his death in hospital.

After sentencing submissions from both sides, Justice Button found Briggs “intended to inflict really serious physical injury, and not to kill”, ruling the offence was not premeditated.

Briggs had pleaded guilty to manslaughter, but denied murder, sparking a Supreme Court trial which was heard in June this year.

The 43-year-old then pleaded guilty to the murder charge after hearing evidence from a forensic pathologist in court, forcing the end of the two-week trial before an Armidale jury.

Justice Button acknowledged Briggs had struggled with alcohol and drugs for decades and was remorseful, with evidence before the court revealing Briggs did not remember much from the day of the murder.

“The attack was not cold-blooded, but rather completely unplanned," he said in his judgment.