A Wollongong father has confessed to abandoning his child in a pram precariously close to stairs at Thirroul railway station in order to violently attack another man two days after Christmas.
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The 32-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty in Port Kembla Local Court on Tuesday to charges of neglecting a child and assault occasioning actual bodily harm, with a police statement revealing the alarming, and at times, bizarre situation that unfolded on the evening of December 27 last year.
Police were alerted to the incident about 9pm after receiving reports of a fight between three intoxicated men, one of whom appeared to have a baby in a pram.
Officers arrived to discover the father standing on the platform next to the pram, along with another man who was injured.
When police spoke to them, the father claimed two young blokes had "jumped" his friend then taken off down the road, and insisted police go find them.
However, during the exchange police noticed both men were slurring their words, unsteady on their feet and appeared highly intoxicated.
Paramedics who arrived moments later copped a mouthful of abuse from the victim when they tried to help him and suggested he go to hospital as he may have a broken cheekbone or jaw.
At the same time, Sydney Trains staff contacted police saying their CCTV footage had captured the assault incident, and told a very different story of what had occurred.
The footage, subsequently viewed by investigating officers, revealed the victim was violently king-hit by his friend following a verbal confrontation between the pair a few minutes earlier.
The CCTV captured the two men walking with the pram and a third man on the pedestrian overpass when the father and the victim argued before going their separate ways.
A moment later the father can be seen leaving the nine-month-old child unrestrained in the pram, which was positioned just two metres from a set of stairs leading to the concourse below, to run back towards his mate.
Upon reaching the victim, the father punched him twice in the head, knocking him out.
The victim regained consciousness seven minutes later, just before police arrived.
The father flatly denied he was responsible for the assault when questioned by police that evening, with the victim backing up his version of events.
"You guys have got it all wrong, [he] didn't do f---in' nothin', why don't you go get the real criminals?" the victim yelled at police.
The pair were allowed to leave the scene, with the child, however the matter was reported to Family and Community Services.
The man was arrested and charged over the incident in January this year. His child has since been removed from his care and placed with FACS following an unrelated matter.
The man will appear in court on August 18 for sentencing.
