A Griffith teenager who brawled in Albury's Dean Street in conduct a District Court judge has described as "homophobic" has had his sentence reduced on appeal.
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Mitchell Jack Irvin was convicted of affray and assault before Albury Local Court in October.
That was despite repeated submissions from his lawyer that it was unfair to saddle Irvin, now 20, with a conviction for life.
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Irvin's sentence of a 12-month community corrections order for the affray and a $300 fine for the assault was immediately appealed to the District Court.
Judge Sean Grant, sitting this week at Griffith, has allowed the appeal, spelling out several reasons in Irvin's favour.
Putting aside the orders of the Local Court, set by magistrate Miranda Moody, Judge Grant instead imposed a two-year community release order without conviction.
This in effect is a good-behaviour bond, but with an additional condition that Irvin abstain from alcohol for the next three months.
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Ms Moody had argued that Irvin's offending - he and a mate began brawling when the friend told a stranger he was a "faggot" for wearing a pink shirt - was "too serious" for Irvin to escape a conviction.
"It's an ugly scene, there's no doubt about it," she said of the incident outside the Albion Hotel on March 21, 2020.
"We've watched the video in court today with sentence and I'm sure it troubles him as much as it troubles me to see such wanton violence on our streets."
But Judge Grant reasoned it was well-known that young people, especially men, did not reach emotional maturity until their early to mid-20s.
In Irvin's favour, he said, were his good prospects of rehabilitation and a supportive family. He found Irvin was genuine in his contrition and remorse.
Pointing out that alcohol and youth "do not mix", Judge Grant imposed Irvin's three-month ban.
The friend was convicted in the Local Court on affray and assault occasioning actual bodily harm charges, fined $1000 and placed on a 12-month community corrections order.
The victim suffered injuries including facial cuts and abrasions and deep bruising and was treated at Albury hospital.
The video showed Irvin wildly swinging punches at strangers on Dean Street.
He and his mate, Ms Moody said, acted "like thugs".
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