A father who left a stranger with permanent facial scarring and a fractured rib after punching him into a pool table was stressed because his partner was undergoing IVF, the ACT Magistrates Court has heard.
Brett William Douch, 36, was sentenced to a 12-month behaviour bond and three-month suspended prison sentence on Wednesday for a count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
At about midnight on June 4, Douch was leaving the Chisholm Tavern with a female when a woman called out to her something like "you shouldn't go with him, you should go and take a taxi home, he's going to take advantage of you."
Douch told the woman to "f--k off and mind your own business."
A man sitting on a stool next to a pool table told Douch, "you can't speak to women like that" to which Douch replied, "what the f--k's it got to do with you?"
Douch then ran at the man, punching him in the face and causing a bloody cut above the victim's eye which Magistrate James Stewart, who had seen photographs, said was "a serious [example] of actual bodily harm."
The smack also caused the victim to hit the pool table as he fell to the ground.
Douch then "mounted" the man and continued to punch him as he lay on the floor, before the publican pulled him off the victim and told him to leave.
Less than 15 minutes after the assault, Douch called triple zero, told them he had hit someone and asked emergency services to assist the person.
Outside the pub at about 12.35am, Douch told police "I gave him one hit" and said he was very drunk.
In a victim statement read out to the court, the assaulted man said he had permanent facial scarring and was 'fearful and anxious' after the attack.
Magistrate Stewart said he accepted evidence that Douch was under significant stress at the time of the assault, as his then-partner was undergoing IVF and COVID-related financial pressure had put him under significant financial strain.
The magistrate said Douch, whose current partner and six-month-old baby appeared in court with him, "appears to be genuinely a hardworking individual who has had some difficulties in life."
However, he also said it was "very limited provocation" which led to a high level of extreme, repetitive violence against the victim.
Magistrate Stewart said "the community is sick and tired of seeing and hearing about violence in licensed premises'" and a message needed to be sent that "harsh punishments" followed alcohol-fuelled violence.
"There is no other way to deal with this than a sentence of imprisonment in my view."
