She had shown him a framed photograph of her father, dressed in his military uniform as a veteran of the K Force army contingent to the Korean War.
"He spat at her father's picture in the picture frame," Mr Stevens said.
"That provoked her into doing what she did in hitting him."
Mr Stevens said this action was "something that I would submit would be regarded as grossly disrespectful".
Judge Chris Tuohy said Maynard had been "drinking with (the victim) for some time" and had "become angry with him and left the room".
"You came back with a wooden table leg and hit him three or four times in the head," the judge said.
"The result was that he had a large wound in the back of his head; he was taken to hospital where he stayed overnight.
"He had bad headaches which is a normal result of impact to the head."
Referring to the spitting incident, Judge Tuohy said he understood "that would be very provoking, but it cannot justify, ever", the sort of assault that occurred.
Before sentencing, Judge Tuohy had stood the matter down for a verbal report from the probation service, saying he had some concerns about Maynard's ability to do a "top-end" community work sentence, given that she was on a sickness benefit for alcoholism.
He told Maynard, " ... I think the only other option is prison".
The judge said he was reducing the community service from the 400 hours he had considered, to 300 hours, in recognition of the six days Maynard had spent in prison for breaching her bail.
