African refugee Tumezghi Tesfay came to Australia to escape his war-torn country's dictatorship - it wanted to conscript him into the military.

The Eritrean 25-year-old was attending school when the government started pushing him to join military training classes.

His older brother before him fled the country to escape this mandatory service and he knew his turn would come.

"I wanted to be free," he said through a translator.

"There's no peace, no work and no kind of life there.

"I didn't want to serve the government, they are a dictatorship."

He left behind his two sisters, younger brother, mother and father and crossed the border to Ethiopia.

Life was hard. Stuck in a refugee camp, he relied on aid from the United Nations.

Some friends who escaped with him provided some solace but he missed his family. Leaving them was the hardest part of his life.

"We love each other and when I left, I was crying," he said.

"I was sad to leave.

"I can't say I felt hardship or problems until then."

When he arrived in the Illawarra eight months ago, he took another hit.

Timothy Williams bashed and robbed Mr Tesfay while Jaimee Lee Haynes acted as a lookout.

The well-publicised attack took place on his fifth day in the country.

Mr Tesfay said it was sad a stranger would target him.

Although he believed Williams deserved to be imprisoned, he thought the nine-year sentence was a bit harsh.

"The sentence is all right," he said. "As a human being I feel nine years is too much.

"It's very sad, I didn't know him and he doesn't know me before he punched me like that."

The vicious assault left a scar on the refugee.

But he wanted to assure people he was OK.

"I am all right in general," he said.

"I do have some fear, not as much as before.

"I go to school to learn English and I come back."

He wants to pursue an education then find a job and hopefully send some money to his family back in Eritrea.