Joel Lawrie and Trevor Hunt pleaded guilty to hammer attack outside the Cumberland hotel

Two men fractured a man’s jaw during a violent hammer bashing outside a popular hotel on Australia Day, but one says it was just “excessive self defence”.

A duo who smashed a man on the head with a hammer several times during a vicious attack were acting in “excessive self defence”, a court has heard.

Joel Nicholas Lawrie, 28, and Trevor Isaac Hunt, 25, pleaded guilty in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Wednesday to causing harm with intent, after an attack at a train station outside the Cumberland Hotel at Glanville on Australia Day.

Stacey Carter, for Lawrie, told the court the prosecution had agreed to resolve the charge in the Magistrates Court jurisdiction.

When asked by Magistrate Michelle Sutcliffe what his plea was to causing harm with intent, Lawrie replied “I’ll plead guilty to excessive self defence but I’m not pleading guilty to that”.

After a discussion with his lawyer, Lawrie pleaded guilty to the charge.

During Lawrie’s bail application in March, a police prosecutor told the court the victim had to be rushed to hospital and was put into resuscitation with a fractured jaw and a possible fractured skull and back.

“The CCTV from the railway station shows the accused, co-accused, and victim sitting under the shelter together. The victim then gets off of the seat and swings an object at the accused in the matter,” he said.

“The accused and co-accused then dispossess the victim of the object, which is believed to be a hammer, and begin taking turns hitting the victim in the head and upper torso with the hammer about five to six times each.

“The victim then falls to the ground and ends up sitting against a bin when the accused and co-accused continue to assault the victim by kicking and punching him all over the body in an excessive assault.”

Joel Lawrie pleaded guilty to assault causing harm. Photo: Facebook

Trevor Hunt also pleaded guilty to the charge. Photo: Facebook

The prosecutor told the court police were responding to a separate incident at the pub in Exeter and it was “fortunate” they were nearby when the attack took place and could intervene.

The court heard the hammer used was placed into a plastic bag and thrown onto the nearby train tracks.

Mike Norman, for Lawrie, told the court CCTV footage showed he and Hunt were attacked first with the hammer.

“They managed to get the hammer off the guy and were acting in self-defence,” he said.

Lawrie, of Findon, and Hunt, of Salisbury North, will face sentencing submissions in November.