A 20-year-old man from Borden, P.E.I., was sentenced to three and half years in prison Friday for his role in a violent home invasion.

Dustin Joseph Leo Noonan was sentenced in a Summerside courtroom after pleading guilty to charges of breaking and enter to commit a robbery and wearing a mask to commit an indictable offence.

According to investigators, just before midnight on August 17 last year, seven people wearing masks and carrying various weapons, including a Taser and a knife, entered a home in Albany.

The court heard today that the intruders used the Taser on a man in his 20s and then started kicking and punching him in the head.

The victim was hospitalized for a broken nose, and for cuts and bruises to his face.

According to facts presented in court the assailants tried to get into a bedroom, but a man and a woman inside resisted using a baseball bat.

Eventually the thieves left with a smartphone and about $1,000.

Both the assailants and the victim were known to deal drugs, according to police.

The court heard text messages recovered by police determined that Noonan was the principal attacker and that a total of nine people planned and executed the assault.

The eight others accused will appear in court on March 12 to enter their pleas on the charges they face.