WAGGA LOCAL COURT
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A WAGGA man is facing jail after being found guilty of smashing a brick into the head of a security guard.
Daniel Clifford Richards was found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, common assault and being armed with intent to commit an indictable offence.
The verdict was handed down in Wagga Local Court on Monday by magistrate Megan Greenwood after two days of hearing evidence on June 4 and June 20.
Police alleged 31-year-old Richards hit security guard Michael Finn on the back of the head with a house brick about 1am on May 4 last year.
An unsuspecting Mr Finn was felled in a laneway off Station Place as he faced a wall while taking a toilet break.
Mr Finn needed 12 stitches to close the head wound that bled so much the colour of his fluoro work vest turned from yellow to red.
The court heard Richards had earlier been involved in a physical altercation with Mr Finn and a colleague, Jessie Robinson, at the Station Place taxi rank.
The guards were managing the queue for taxis after the Wagga Gold Cup race meeting.
A drunken Richards yelled abuse at Mr Robinson because he was tired or waiting for a taxi and then threw a kebab at him.
A witness to the clash told the court he heard someone he believed to be Richards say as he got into a taxi after the fight: "We'll be back".
Mr Finn told the court on June 4 that after he was hit in the head he turned around and recognised Richards as the man he had struggled with earlier.
"He asked if I remembered him from earlier," Mr Finn told the court.
The court was told that a mobile telephone belonging to Richards's girlfriend and his cap were found within metres of where Mr Finn was attacked.
Also nearby was a brick covered one end in Mr Finn's blood.
The other end contained DNA material which the court was told could have come from Mr Finn and Richards.
In his closing submission on Monday, barrister Chris Lawrence for Richards put to the court the phone and the cap could have been lost by Richards during the first incident and left at the crime scene by someone else.
Ms Greenwood rejected that scenario.
She also rejected evidence given by people who provided alibis for Richards.
She said they "would say whatever it took to get you (Richards) out of trouble".
The magistrate said the prosecution case was strong and the testimony of prosecution witnesses, including Mr Finn, was believable.
She said Mr Finn was unswayed in cross-examination by Mr Lawrence and tried his hardest to tell the truth.
Ms Greenwood said Mr Finn still suffered from the attack.
She ordered a pre-sentence report on Richards ahead of sentencing on November 24.
She rejected a suggestion by Mr Lawrence that the report include an assessment of Richards's suitability for an intensive corrections order as an alternative to full-time custody.
Ms Greenwood said she thought Richards had "big problems" because of the premeditative nature of the assault on Mr Finn.
Richards has previously pleaded guilty to common assault of Mr Robinson by throwing the kebab at him.