Christopher Condon made a summary jurisdiction application at the Ballarat Magistrates' Court on Tuesday.

This means he applied for his case to be heard in the Magistrates' Court rather than the County Court.

A crown prosecutor told the court Condon was at home with his mother and nephew in Darley when he allegedly started verbally abusing them and grabbed hold of his mother's wrist.

The court heard his mother left the house to go to the next door neighbour for help.

It is alleged Condon went into his room to get a knife and a wrought iron-door stopper and told his nephew 'watch this, I am going to f*ck this guy up', referring to the neighbour.

Condon is accused of going outside and swinging the wrought iron door-stopper at the neighbour's head.

The court heard the neighbour grabbed Condon to defend himself and they wrestled on the ground.

Condon is accused of hitting the neighbour in the head again before stabbing his shoulder with a knife.

The neighbour allegedly grabbed the knife during the struggle and sustained cuts to his hands.

The court heard he was taken to hospital for treatment and Condon was allegedly uncooperative with police after his arrest.

The crown prosecutor said the prosecution did not oppose the summary jurisdiction application.

A defence lawyer said it was conceded the alleged offending was 'serious' as it involved a knife and occurred in the context of family violence.

The lawyer said the Magistrates' Court had sufficient sentencing powers to hear the matter, given Condon's limited prior criminal history that has not involved custodial sentences.

She submitted the case would be subject to a significant delay if it were to be heard in the County Court due to the suspension of jury trials amid COVID-19.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Magistrate Letizia Torres said she would grant summary jurisdiction, meaning the case would be heard in the Magistrates' Court.

"I am concerned about the seriousness of the offending, involving weapons and in the context of family violence," she said.

"These are aggravating features."

Ms Torres said she decided the Magistrates' Court had appropriate sentencing powers to deal with this case.

She said she also took into account additional delays in the indictable stream and non-opposition to the application by the prosecution.

Condon will remain in custody and return to court in August for a contest mention.

If you are seeing this message you are a loyal digital subscriber to The Courier, as we made this story available only to subscribers. Thank you very much for your support and allowing us to continue telling Ballarat's story. We appreciate your support of journalism in our great city.