Adam Dennis Coats intervened in the armed dispute between two men.

Christopher Quirk had arrived at Vera Street, armed with a knife and mattock handle, about midday on March 10, 2018, and immediately began stabbing Heath Parkinson.

Quirk inflicted near fatal wounds and the pair struggled over the knife.

Parkinson stabbed Quirk once in the thigh, severing his femoral artery, and both collapsed in the front yard of the home.

Coats, who lived at the home, had seen the pair fight and tried to intervene.

Both men had already collapsed when he became involved, and he used the mattock handle to strike Quirk with a "vicious" blow.

The impact broke several bones and caused a mild brain injury.

Quirk later died of the knife wound.

Parkinson was found not guilty of murder on the grounds of self defence.

Coats, who a witness said was "off his face" at the time, was found not guilty of attempted murder but pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm.

Coats was recently jailed by NSW Supreme Court Justice Stephen Campbell for a maximum of six years, backdated to March last year.

"To strike a man when he is supine and therefore vulnerable and incapable of defending himself is dastardly," he said.

"To strike him that way with an improvised club like the mattock handle in those circumstances is despicable."

But Justice Campbell noted that Coats was not responsible for the late man's death.

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Coats, 44, has previously been jailed multiple times for assault and was on bail at the time of the offence.

He had been awake for several days before the violent confrontation and had been a daily methamphetamine user since 2013.

The 44-year-old, who has been in jail since the day of the offence, will be eligible for parole in March 2023 and the court heard he is not keen to return to Corowa.