A footballer, a man and a teenager have been jailed for repeatedly bashing two men during an unprovoked attack on a street in regional NSW.
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Raymond Talimalie, Anzac Leavai and another offender - who cannot be named because he was underage at the time - were each charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent, assault occasioning actual bodily harm in company and affray in relation to an early morning incident on Main Street, Young, on October 1, 2017.
Talimalie was playing for the Young Cherrypickers at the time but was dumped by the club after the incident.
The three offenders pleaded not guilty to the offences. However, a jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts against the trio following a two-week trial in Wagga District Court last year. The teenager was also found guilty of assault.
The attack left the man with fractures to his jaw and skull, as well as bruising to the brain. He was taken to Wagga Base Hospital and later transferred to Sydney's St George Hospital, where he underwent surgery.
In sentencing the trio in Wagga District Court this week, Judge Gordon Lerve said he was "not satisfied on balance there was any provocation" and found each of them assaulted the man by hitting, punching and kicking him.
Judge Lerve said a man who came to the victim's aid also sustained multiple injuries after he was also punched and kicked.
The trio then hit, punched, pulled and shoved people who tried to help both victims.
The offenders had been at a 50th birthday party at a RSL Club and each of them, including the teenager, had been drinking.
Assessing the trio's offending, Judge Lerve found they were "acting in concert in a joint criminal enterprise and in respect of both [the men] were involved in an attack involving three on to one".
"The attack was relatively sustained and involved both kicking and punching," he said.
Judge Lerve said all three were actively involved in meting out the violence on the victim and were each an active participant in the assault on the man who came to his aid. He found all three were involved in the affray.
Talimalie was sentenced to a maximum seven-and-a-half years' jail, with a non-parole period of five years and three months. He will be eligible for release in October 2024.
Leavai was sentenced to six-and-a-half years behind bars. He will be eligible for parole in April 2024.
The teen was sentenced to four years and three months' jail, eligible for release in March 2022.
Judge Lerve said the teen had been held in a juvenile justice institution but was now aged 19 and must serve the remainder of his sentence in an adult jail.