TWO Bathurst men who committed serious assaults while working at Tamworth last year have been ordered by Bathurst Local Court to work 200 hours unpaid for the community as an alternative to gaol sentences.
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Brett Lewis Harvey, 21, and Troy Ross Nairne, 24, both appeared for sentence after pleading guilty to reckless wounding and assault after each had an affray/unlawful violence charge withdrawn at the Bathurst Court House.
Local Court magistrate Thomas Hodgson sentenced both men to work 200 hours, saying the charges they faced carried sentences of up to seven years' gaol.
He sentenced both men to 12 months' gaol to be served by way of concurrent 200 and 100 hour community service orders, reporting to the Probation & Parole Service within seven days.
Lawyer Bill Walsh said Harvey, of View Street, Kelso and Nairne, of Hawkins Street, Bathurst had been working in Tamworth and drank too much on the night of November 30, 2007.
"Both are otherwise fine young men from good families," Mr Walsh said.
Mr Walsh asked Mr Hodgson to consider it was a one-off offence in Tamworth.
He said the court might place both men on bonds and impose fines, but if a community service order was imposed it should not be lengthy because both men worked and were otherwise good citizens who had "done something absolutely stupid".
Relieving police prosecutor Phillip Donato tendered statements of facts outlining how Harvey and Nairne had been in Tamworth on November 19 with a group of apprentice mechanics visiting licensed premises in the CBD.
About 1.50am on November 30, one of the apprentices, Joshua Flynn, had gone outside for a cigarette. Nairne had also gone outside and was returning when he punched Flynn in the mouth, knocking him unconscious.
Police said Harvey and another man, Kevin Ryan, had gone to look at the victim while friends of Flynn ? Thomas Satler, Daniel Lockrey and Brent Davis ? were rendering assistance.
Nairne was asked if he hit Flynn, and he punched Satler to the right side jaw, sending him falling back to the road, the statement said.
Davis had gone to report the incident at Tamworth Police Station and a crowd gathered, including hotel staff, as Harvey stood near Lockrey, punching him and causing Lockrey to fall with a laceration to his left eye and forehead, losing consciousness.
Nairne led Harvey and Ryan away as an ambulance arrived to treat Flynn and Lockrey, who were taken to Tamworth Base Hospital.
