The victim of an "abhorrent" attack outside a Canberra strip club was unable to eat solid foods for two months in the wake of a coward punch that left his friend thinking he was dead.
Marcos Paredes Valdez, the drunken assailant who knocked the victim out and broke his jaw, received a two-year intensive correction order when he was sentenced in the ACT Supreme Court on Tuesday.
Justice Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson ordered the 30-year-old Paraguayan to perform 150 hours of community service as part of the sentence, telling him "our society abhors attacks of this nature".
Paredes Valdez had previously pleaded guilty to charges of recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm and common assault.
A statement of agreed facts shows Paredes Valdez committed those crimes outside the Wanderlust Gentleman's Club, in Mitchell, last December.
As he left the establishment on the night in question, Paredes Valdez and two other men became involved in a verbal argument with the victim and one of his friends.
Paredes Valdez responded to the war of words by punching the victim in the chin, smashing his jaw and causing him to fall backwards onto the paved car park.
The victim hit his head, which split open, and lost consciousness as a result.
In the aftermath, Paredes Valdez also repeatedly punched the victim's friend, striking him in the chest and the stomach region, before re-entering the strip club.
Paredes Valdez was arrested in the club about an hour later and taken to the ACT police watch house, where he was granted bail.
He pleaded guilty in March and appeared in court for the start of his sentence proceedings earlier this month, describing himself as "a horrible person" and fighting through tears as he expressed remorse.
Paredes Valdez also indicated he had been so intoxicated he could not even remember what had sparked the argument that led to his punches.
At the sentence hearing, prosecutor Nathan Deakes argued in favour of an intensive correction order, which is the most severe type of jail term served in the community.
Defence barrister Katrina Musgrove pushed, however, for a suspended prison sentence.
On Tuesday afternoon, Justice Loukas-Karlsson found the seriousness of the attack on the primary victim and Paredes Valdez's need for intervention warranted the more severe form of sentence.
The judge noted that the victim of the one-punch attack had spent four days in hospital as a result of the incident, with screws and a plate ultimately inserted into his jaw as part of his recovery.
The other victim told the court he now feared walking outside at night.
"It goes without saying that the crimes should never have occurred," Justice Loukas-Karlsson said.
The judge went on to cite the high-profile case of Kieran Loveridge, who killed fellow teenager Thomas Kelly with a coward punch, as she said drunken young men engaging in violence on the streets was "all too common".
In this case, Justice Loukas-Karlsson accepted Paredes Valdez, a devout churchgoer, was remorseful.
She noted that he had already started on the path towards rehabilitation through steps that included attending alcohol counselling and seeking guidance from a priest.
"You've proven, through the process of rehabilitation you've undertaken, that you're a better person than you were that day," the judge told Paredes Valdez, urging him to continue reforming himself on a daily basis.
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