An argument over cold air and an open door prompted a Unanderra man to don a clown mask and attack another man with a sharpened stick, a court has heard.
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The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, stands accused of hitting the victim in the ear with the makeshift weapon on the morning of July 21, leaving him with a bleeding left ear.
Documents tendered to Wollongong Local Court on Friday reveal the two men had been at a mutual friend's house in Berkeley on the evening of July 20 when they got into an argument over the victim leaving the home's front door open and "letting cold air" into the house.
The victim subsequently left the premises but the argument continued throughout the evening and into the following morning via Facebook message exchanges, during which the Unanderra man sent pictures of himself wearing a clown mask.
The court heard the victim and his partner were at another neighbour's house in the same street early the next morning minding a child when the accused approached the victim wearing the clown mask and armed with a "large sharpened stick".
Police said he ran up to the victim and hit his from behind, wounding him in the left ear.
The Unanderra man then removed a knife from the front of his pants and allegedly began threatening the victim, before running back inside the house.
The victim and his partner left a short time later and contacted police.
The victim provided a statement to police before being taken to hospital for treatment.
Police will allege the majority of the incident was caught on CCTV cameras at the home.
The Unanderra man was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and being armed with intent.
He was also charged with six separate, unrelated historical child sex offences amid allegations he sexually abused a young relative when he was in his mid-teens.
Police will allege the man abused the girl on an ongoing basis between 2002 and 2005, while she was aged between 10 and 13.
He was remanded in custody on both sets of charges and faced court on Friday, where he was granted strict conditional bail despite police opposing the application.
Magistrate Claire Girotto imposed house arrest conditions on the man's liberty, prohibiting him from leaving the home unless in the company of his mother, who agreed to drive him to the police station daily to comply with his reporting obligations.
The case will return to court at a later date.
