A Dubbo man who "inexplicably" attacked a couple inside a taxi while waiting at traffic lights, understands substance abuse played a key role.
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In May, Colby Peckham, 20, pleaded guilty to the "unwarranted" assault on a man who was on his way home from the Pastoral Hotel on November 27 last year.
According to court documents, a couple were at the Pastoral Hotel, before they decided to catch a taxi home at about 1.15am.
The pair spotted a taxi out the front of the hotel and got into the backseat when it took off toward Darling Street.
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The taxi stopped at traffic lights when Peckham grabbed open the rear passenger door of the taxi and began punching the man in the head.
Police said the man braced himself and moved to protect his partner from being attacked.
Peckham continued throwing punches toward the man's head, and as a result broke the man's glasses.
During the random attack, Peckham could be heard yelling "you f--king dog" at the man, before he was eventually pulled away from the taxi by a group of unknown men.
At the same time the taxi driver - after realising what had happened - sped off to take the man and woman home, away from further danger.
At about 1.47am Peckham messaged the man on Facebook taking full responsibility for the attack, and told him he would be happy to sort it out one-on-one.
Upset and angry, the man didn't want any more trouble or another attack to occur so ignored the message.
Police said as a result of the attack, the man was left with injuries to the right hand side of his face, a sore jaw, raised bruises to his head as well as sore ribs.
During the day, police said the man had never met Peckham before, but was very anxious and worried that Peckham or others would turn up at his home and start another fight.
Peckham was arrested at his home the next day.
In Dubbo Local Court for sentencing on Wednesday, Aboriginal Legal Service defence lawyer Thomas Russell said his client was a young man, who now understood how his substance abuse issues would have impacted his judgement.
He argued as outlined in the sentencing assessment report, Peckham took full responsibility for his actions.
"As outlined in the facts he reached out to the victim as soon as the assault happened trying to sort it out and apologised," Mr Russell said.
"That suggests he realised the gravity of what he had done, and he has certainly expressed his regret to me."
The court heard Peckham had a limited criminal history, apart from one matter where he was granted a conditional release order without conviction.
Magistrate Theresa Hamilton recognised the assault was "inexplicable" and "quite serious", however recognised the sentencing assessment report showed Peckham understood his substance abuse issues.
"If it were not for the fact he has a limited history ... and his age, the section five threshold may well have been crossed," she said.
Peckham was convicted and sentenced to an 18-month community corrections order with supervision, and required to undertake drug and alcohol interventions recommended by community corrections.
He was also ordered to complete 80 hours of community service work.