A man who belted a would-be peacemaker in a drunken fight outside Wollongong’s Harp Hotel has been admonished in court.
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The punch sent John David Deller’s victim into the gutter, where he hit his head and fell momentarily unconscious with part of his body lying in the path of oncoming traffic.
Deller, 23, of Horsley, fronted Wollongong Local Court on Friday, having admitted to initiating the fighting by throwing a hardened plastic cup at the forehead of an adversary who stood outside the hotel, about 8.40pm on November 8.
A retaliatory cup was thrown. It missed its target but by then the fight was on.A CCTV camera was recording as Deller hurried down the hotel steps to confront the man. Deller, wearing a red, pink and yellow Hawaiian shirt, kicked off his thongs as his rival discarded his shirt.
The vision, played to the court, shows the man pushing away an intervening friend. The peacemaker lands in the path of Deller, who then lands the hit.
Solicitor Tony Valentinetti asked the court to categorise Deller’s offending as at the lower end of the scale.
“It’s not as if the fight progresses much further,” Mr Valentinetti said, pointing to the absence of weapons.
But Magistrate Geraldine Beattie said the affray was mid-range in its severity.
“There’s a number of people involved, it spills right into the street," she said. “Unfortunately poor Mr [victim] gets caught up in that. He’s trying to defuse things and what happens? You swing a punch at him.”
Mr Valentinetti told the court the two fighters had clashed earlier in the night, but had been able to “shake hands and agree to their differences and go their separate ways”.
The victim was treated by NSW Ambulance paramedics. According to police documents, he received advice he had fractured a facial bone and may require surgery.
Deller’s shirtless co-accused is the subject of separate legal proceedings.
Magistrate Beattie handed Deller a 10-month suspended jail sentence, taking into account his previously unblemished record, remorse and references attesting to his good character.