Despite taking part in a ferocious bikie assault that led to the death of Clint Starkey in 2017, a NSW man has argued he played a minor role and should walk free from jail by the end of the year.
Jake William McDonough, 30, was found guilty of manslaughter by a NSW Supreme Court jury on July 29 this year.
He is one of six men charged over the death of Mr Starkey who was fatally bashed at a Caltex service station in Peats Ridge on the NSW Central Coast in April 2017.
Four men were charged over their role in the attack while brothers James and Colin Crane have been charged on the basis of being part of a joint criminal enterprise.
On Monday, McDonough's barrister Nathan Steel argued that his client should be eligible for parole by the end of the year after being incarcerated for almost five years despite being involved in the attack for a few seconds.
"This (assault) was, even on the full CCTV footage, relatively brief, perhaps 30, 40 seconds ... and Mr McDonough's participation was so short, four to five seconds," Mr Steel told Justice Des Fagan.
McDonough stood to the side for much of the attack because it was far more serious than what he'd originally agreed to, the barrister argued.
He joined in on the assault after becoming entangled with the Rebels outlaw motorcycle gang.
At the time, he was on parole after being jailed for a separate assault with the attack on the then 42-year-old Mr Starkey occurring around a month after his release.
Scared of going to jail again, McDonough is claimed to have drawn support from the Rebels, believing they would take care of him while he was behind bars.
"Jake told me that the Rebels are going to look after him when he goes to jail, they're going to pay his rent, look after his stuff," his previous employer Ryan Campbell told the court on Monday.
Mr Campbell, owner of the Mower Mega Store chain, said he'd be happy to give McDonough a job after release from prison.
He said he regretted not providing more support earlier when he noticed his employee's increasing involvement with the Rebels.
"'The more he hung out in those bad circles, the more I rejected him or pushed him away because I didn't want to get involved in it ... I was quite happy to back off and that's what I regret," he said.
Mr Steel said his client was disillusioned with the Rebels and would be happy with strict parole conditions, including orders not to associate with members of the gang.
Prosecutors are pushing for a longer parole period, pointing out that McDonough committed further offences while on parole and had not taken up an offer to work at Mower Mega Store again.
Justice Fagan noted that the circumstances now were much more favourable than in 2017 because McDonough was older and he was not receiving the same support as he once did from the Rebels.
The judge will hand down his sentence on November 11.
