A sleeping man was smashed in the face with a wooden bat by a man he had spent the night socialising with.
Previous tensions between victim Jonathan Olley and Gavin Hall appeared to have disappeared as they consumed alcohol and socialised with their partners.
When Mr Olley's partner saw Hall storming towards him a bat, she thought he was just playing a practical joke. But she was horrified to see him swing it back and forward, hitting him square in the face and leaving him with fractures to his eye socket.
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Hall, 36, of Ellen Road, Jarrow, South Tyneside, was originally charged with GBH with intent but prosecutors accepted his guilty plea to GBH and a judge said he would suspend his prison sentence after hearing he had been injured in a car accident.
Newcastle Crown Court heard it was on July 23, 2019 that Mr Olley agreed to go to his girlfriend's friend's home after being at work and going to the gym. He was told Hall had turned up and would pick him up.
He did so with the two women in the car and the court heard he was "showing off" while driving back to Hebburn. Richard Herrmann, prosecuting, said: "At the flat, everyone was having a drink and a laugh.
"Mr Olley drifted off to sleep and was woken by a tap on the arm then saw the defendant standing over him holding a bat in front of his face, before swinging it back and forward, hitting him square in the face. He was immediately in pain and passed out."
When he came round, Mr Olley looked in the mirror and saw his face was covered in blood. Referring to Mr Olley's partner's account of the attack, Mr Herrmann said: "She saw the defendant storm over to him with the bat. She thought he was going to play a joke and wake him up but instead she saw him swinging the bat with full force and smacking it into his face. She describes an awful sound and feeling so frightened by what she had seen."
When challenged about what he had done, Hall replied: "I've done it now, what's done is done". The court heard some time previously the victim had begun a relationship with someone Hall had been involved with and that the attack happened "perhaps because of a previous history of ill-feeling" between them.
Mr Olley said in a statement read to the court: "The assault was totally unprovoked and this brutal assault has had a massive impact on my life."
Nick Peacock, defending, said Hall was in a car crash in 2020 which left him with life-changing injuries. Recorder Christopher Rose said were it not for that "significant and powerful personal mitigation", he would have sent him to prison for the "dreadful incident".
He was sentenced to 18 months suspended for two years with 200 hours unpaid work.
The court heard there were references from people who know him and his employer saying "positive things" about him.
