A Splitters Creek man who ended up in hospital on crashing his car in his driveway soon after he randomly punched another man is "mortified" by what he did.
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His lack of history for any violent offending, defence lawyer Mark Cronin said, showed the assault clearly was "out-of-character".
Christopher Copperwaite, who had no memory of what happened that night, had since tried to make amends with his early guilty pleas, Mr Cronin said on Monday.
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He had also compensated the owner of a taxi he crashed into and made a similar offer to the owner of a second car.
Albury Local Court heard that in trying to flee the scene of the assault, Copperwaite, 33, crashed his car into the taxi and then a nearby parked car in Poole Street early on January 1.
Copperwaite, 33, previously pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, common assault and two charges of not give particulars to other driver.
Magistrate Sally McLaughlin said on Monday she agreed with Mr Cronin that Copperwaite's offending fell "just below" the threshold for a jail sentence.
"There was only one punch. However, that one punch was such that the victim was knocked out."
Ms McLaughlin noted how the victim had to undergo nose reconstruction surgery.
The victim had been waiting with the taxi while a friend went inside her Albury home, the friends having just travelled from having a meal in Dean Street.
The punch ricocheted into a second woman.
Ms McLaughlin said she accepted Copperwaite was "genuinely remorseful".
Copperwaite was convicted, placed on a 14-month community corrections order with 100 hours of unpaid work and fined $1640.
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