John Robert Leatham, 35, pleaded guilty in the Wollongong Local Court to common assault and damaging property over the March 2021 incident.

When Leatham was picked up by the taxi driver late on the afternoon of March 19 last year, he was accompanied by a woman who put two $20 notes in a bag around his neck and told the driver he was intoxicated.

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Leatham got into the rear seat and asked the driver to take him to a Barrack Heights address.

When they arrived, the victim said the fare came to $34.70 and Leatham handed over the two $20 notes, before the driver returned his change.

Leatham then asked "How much did I give you?" and the victim told him it was $40 and showed him the two notes, still folded together.

But Leatham became argumentative and insisted he had given more, before punching the victim to the face and saying: "You want to fight, then get out".

He then slammed the door shut and kicked it; as the driver reversed the vehicle to get away he also kicked the front guard on the passenger side.

The kicking left dents in the guard and the door, costing almost $1164.

Police caught up with Leatham the following month and he told officers he had no recollection of the incident as he had taken several Valium tablets before arriving at the Warrawong address, but claimed to remember a discrepancy in the cash he had given to the driver.

When officers showed him images taken from the taxi's CCTV, he admitted it was him.

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Defence lawyer Matt Kwan told the court on Tuesday that Leatham used drugs and almost everyone he associated with did too.

But Mr Kwan said his client had some prospects of rehabilitation if he stayed away from these circles.

Magistrate Claire Girotto said the assault on the taxi driver was "not that insignificant".

"I have a lot of sympathy for someone who drives people around and isn't safe in his own car," Magistrate Girotto said.

She ordered Leatham to compensate the driver for the cost of the damage to the vehicle and jailed him for three months.

Leatham was also sentenced to a two-year community corrections order for domestic violence-related assault and intimidation offences, the former of which involved spitting.

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