Bo Moran, 35, faced a hearing at Wollongong Local Court on Wednesday where he defended a charge of recklessly causing grievous bodily harm.

It was not in dispute that on June 3 last year, Moran attended Wollongong Hospital for stomach pain and was asked to leave.

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He called an ambulance from home and was taken back to the hospital's emergency department, but he demanded morphine, was aggressive and abusive towards staff and eventually asked to leave again, resulting in four security officers carrying him outside.

When the officers put him down near the intersection of Crown and Darling streets, he said "I'm going back, you can't stop me, if anyone touches me I'll defend myself, I'll knock you out".

A short time later the paramedic, 57-year-old John Bevan, arrived at the hospital in an ambulance, following another carrying a patient in need of critical care.

Moran stood in front of the first ambulance at the hospital driveway, blocking its entry.

Prosecutor Nicole Johnson said it was the Crown's case that Mr Bevan repeatedly asked him to move to no avail, so grabbed him to get him out of the way.

This ended with Mr Bevan falling to the ground, causing a fractured tibia that required surgery.

Defence lawyer Tim McKenzie said it was not in dispute his client had "behaved atrociously" inside the hospital and continued his "selfish conduct" outside.

But Mr McKenzie said the issue was whether he was criminally liable for Mr Bevan's injury and whether his actions formed self-defence.

Mr Bevan gave evidence to the court that Moran was leaning against the bonnet of the ambulance and he intended to move him away to stop him blocking it.

A nurse told him to "be careful", he said, but no one told him police had been called nor to wait for them.

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He said he told Moran to move away from the ambulance twice but received no response, so he grabbed him in a bear hug from behind in an attempt to move him.

Mr Bevan said his vision went black but he had a sense of his knee "popping" and a numbness down his leg when he fell.

He said when he opened his eyes he was on the road and he tried to get up, but his leg collapsed beneath him.

Nurse Peter Henderson witnessed the incident and gave evidence that he told Mr Bevan: "Just wait, I've called the police".

The court heard that Mr Henderson described Mr Bevan in his statement as having slipped over, and he told the court it was wet at the time and the road sloped down.

Hospital security officer Warren Lewiston said Mr Bevan said "Hey" to Moran then "launched himself" at the accused.

At the same time, Mr Lewiston said, Moran got down on one knee and "flicked" Mr Bevan off him.

He said Moran moved away from Mr Bevan once he was on the ground.

Another security officer, Paul Saba, also said Mr Bevan had yelled "Hey" before grabbing Moran in a bear hug.

Mr Saba said Moran grabbed Mr Bevan's shirt at the chest and threw him over his leg onto the ground.

He said he had told Mr Bevan police had been called.

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The court saw bodyworn camera footage of a police officer interviewing Moran at the scene.

Moran told the officer he was standing in front of an ambulance when a paramedic came over and tried to "smash [him] into the ground".

"We had a little twist and turn and ended up on the ground," Moran said, adding that he did not hit the officer and was trying to defend himself.

The prosecutor Ms Johnson submitted that the eyewitness accounts were sufficient to establish Moran was reckless in causing grievous bodily harm to Mr Bevan.

She said his threat to knock out anyone who touched him showed his state of mind.

Moran's actions in response to Mr Bevan were not out of self-defence, Ms Johnson said, but out of aggression.

Mr McKenzie said the court had to consider what actions were reasonable when being grabbed, and it was not unreasonable for someone to twist around.

He said the evidence was consistent that the event unfolded quickly.

Magistrate Michael O'Brien found he could not be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Moran was guilty of recklessly causing grievous bodily harm.

Moran was found not guilty of that charge, and a count of obstructing an ambulance officer by violence was withdrawn.

However, he pleaded guilty to behaving in an offensive manner in a public place and obstructing an ambulance officer.

Moran will be sentenced in August. He remains on bail.

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