A 19-year-old man, who The Courier has chosen not to name as he avoided a conviction, faced the Ballarat Magistrates' Court on Tuesday for one charge of unlawful assault relating to the incident on April 16 last year.

The court heard the accused was at an 18^th birthday party in a Ballarat suburb when he and a co-accused began to cause trouble by throwing things in the fire.

The pair became verbally abusive when asked to stop.

At 11.30pm, the host turned the music off and asked all guests to leave.

The accused and co-accused left through a gate at the property, and the co-accused is alleged to have thrown a glass bottle at the victim which caused a minor injury to the victim's shin.

The victim then ran at the pair in an effort to chase them away when the accused tackled him to the ground and began to kick and punch him, causing him to lose consciousness.

When the accused was later arrested, he told police he thought the victim did not lose consciousness because when they stopped hitting him 'he got straight back up'.

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Defence for the teen told the court he was responding to the victim attacking his friend and was in a difficult period of his life dealing with the illness of his mother and homelessness.

"He concedes he went too far in that," the defence said.

"His decision making was not at his best."

Magistrate Bruce Cottrill said he assumed alcohol was a contributing factor.

"It's an explanation, not an excuse," he said.

"It was nasty, uncalled for, cowardly and indeed could have led to more serious injuries.

"Things got right out of hand ... your behaviour would have caused great distress to the family."

The teen was also charged with possession of a prohibited weapon and using a vehicle that was non-complaint with registration standards for an unrelated matter.

The charges were consolidated and the teen was ordered to pay an $800 fine, without conviction.

Mr Cottrill offered a warning to the teen as he handed down his sentence.

"If you come back before the court, you will face a more stringent penalty," he said.

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