A BINGE-drinking thug who punched a barman after being refused a drink avoided jail on Tuesday.
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Heath Biggs, 27, pleaded guilty to two charges of unlawful assault after hitting two men during a buck’s night in October 2013.
Biggs received a 12-month community corrections order and has to abstain from alcohol for six months.
Ballarat Magistrates Court heard Biggs attended a bar in the central business district, where he was refused service, offered a drink of water and then tried to go behind the bar to pour himself a drink.
Biggs was taken into the front lounge of the premises by other patrons before returning to the bar and punching the barman.
After leaving the venue, Biggs returned to punch another victim before being apprehended by police.
Biggs’ defence lawyer, Mike Wardell, said his client was a “binge drinker”.
“Alcohol and my client don’t mix,” he said.
“He just gets carried away and does things that are objectionable and violent.”
Magistrate Andrew Capell said he would not usually impose a period of abstinence with a CCO, but Biggs “gets drunk, becomes violent and hits people”.
“The words ‘obnoxious drunk’ apply to you,” he said.
“It’s the classic behaviour of a one-punch mentality that can often lead to fatal consequences.”