The victim of a one-punch attack during an alcohol-fuelled brawl on a Wollongong CBD street has poignantly spoken of the impact the assault, coma and ongoing treatment has had on his life.
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The man needed to undergo emergency surgery after he lay on Crown Street for minutes after being punched in the head by Tyson Owen about 3.15am on November 8, last year.
Owen was with a group of friends standing out the front of Tusk nightclub when one of the men made a racist remark towards the victim and his friends as they walked past.
A short time later one of Owen's friends became aggressive towards the victim's group and started a brawl as the victim tried to diffuse the situation.
Owen ran over to the victim and punched him in the head causing him to fall to the ground where he lay until paramedics arrived to treat him.
Some of Owen's friends tried to assist but eventually left before Owen was charged the next day.
In Wollongong District Court on Friday, Owen heard the victim speak about how the "coward punch" had "ramifications that weighed heavily" on all aspects of his life including his health, career, family and future.
He said he came to Australia to study before he worked fulltime as a registered nurse.
"My outlook on life has changed," he told the court. "I was in a coma for days and hospital for two months recovering from the critical brain surgery necessitated by the blow to my head."
The man said he still had a large scar, from his ear to neck, which was a visible reminder that an "act of a coward will always have a catastrophic and deep impact on my life".
He still suffers from headaches, and had to learn to walk again as his balance was affected, and has ongoing medical treatment.
The man also said he suffered many mental health issues and was not allowed to drive or work as a nurse, which left him feeling "unworthy, incompetent and useless".
"I have lost my independence and the life I have built," he said before adding he had to move in with his sister and was on government benefits.
The man said the initial reason for Owen's friends attacking his friends was "steeped in racism, a racial slur because he is black like me".
The man said Owen "senselessly, thoughtlessly and cruelly punched me from behind... he did not even think to call an ambulance even as he fled the scene. Would he have cared if I had died?"
He said he felt unsafe at Wollongong, and it was a place of "darkness", adding he found it hard to make new friends.
The man said he had been financially burdened by attending treatment
Owen cried as the victim impact statement was read to the court.
Owen's barrister Ben Clark asked Judge Haesler to consider sentencing his client to a jail term to be served in the community rather than full-time imprisonment.
Mr Clark said his client had tried to diffuse the situation just minutes before he punched the man, adding it was not "premeditated", not an ongoing attack and he was heavily affected by alcohol.
Mr Clark said Owen contributed to his community through employing people in his roofing business, played football and supported his ex-wife and was a "loving" father to his children.
Prosecutor Tiffany Lasschuit asked Judge Haesler to impose a jail sentence noting the seriousness of the victim's injuries, adding Owen aimed the punch for the man's head when he wasn't facing him, giving the man no forewarning.
"The punch involved such force the victim immediately fell backwards and was rendered unconscious and then the offender continued in what the Crown submits was violent actions and did not render assistance to the victim or check on his welfare at any point," she said.
Ms Lasschuit said the attack was "completely unprovoked" and the man was trying to diffuse the altercation with open hands.
The Crown asked the judge to place less weight on the assertion Owen reacted the way he did because of the stress of his marriage breakdown and running a business in COVID restrictions as they occurred earlier in the year.
She accepted Owen had expressed remorse, had a stable job and the support of his family and friends but noted he had only sought psychological treatment one day before he pleaded guilty.
Judge Haesler will sentence Owen on Thursday.
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