"My life has been changed forever and he gets to go home to his wife and live his life every day," Mr Ross said.
"He missed a major artery by a few millimetres - I honestly feel this guy came close to taking my life and he gets home detention?"
For the 50-year-old landscaper, who has given thousands of voluntary hours to the Kawerau community, it simply does not seem fair.
While talking to the Rotorua Daily Post yesterday, Mr Ross was unable to sit comfortably on his chair.
He broke down more than once while talking about the after-effects of Docherty's attack and struggled to regain his composure to keep going.
He does not appear to be angry but is still experiencing shock and disbelief three months after the attack.
"I'd done quite a few jobs for Steve [Docherty] during the past two to three years," Mr Ross said.
"On this occasion when I pulled up at his house, I thought he would have been rapt with what we had achieved that day.
"When he started nutting off I thought he was joking but after realising he was serious, I admit I told him to piss off."
Docherty went to his truck while Mr Ross and another contractor carried on with their duties.
"About three or four minutes later, I watched him walk toward me and didn't see a weapon, but the anger coming from him was incredible. He got right up in front of me, his face and his lips had gone white with rage, and he was shaking."
Docherty had a hand-made, flat, c-shaped, metal instrument with a sharp point in his hands, thrust it between Mr Ross' legs and pulled upward.
"And he just kept pulling it upward."
He was taken to Whakatane Hospital for surgery.
Since then, his quality of life has changed considerably.
"I've had to hire someone to keep my landscaping business going, blood poisoning resulting from the incident has left me with boils, and pain is never far away. I'm still struggling to get his [Docherty's] angry, angry face out of my mind."
Mr Ross is on a swag of medication and recently was referred to a psychiatrist to help him emotionally. But, he says, the overwhelming support from the Kawerau community and from people throughout the land after he spoke on Radio Live, has helped a lot.
"I've had people ringing me up to express sympathy and to say the law is an ass. I believe someone from Kawerau has given a koha and others are following suit."
Serial litigant Graham McCready, who took a private prosecution against John Banks, contacted Radio Live and expressed interest in talking to Mr Ross.
"I've been helping out in Kawerau since I got here 20 years ago so I guess I know a few people," Mr Ross said.
He has been a civil-defence traffic officer in the mill town and has also given thousands of voluntary hours at various events.
