Brodie David Pou sentenced after one-punch workplace assault

A Mid-North Coast man who left a man with a black eye after a fight at their workplace will pay a steep price for losing his temper.

A Mid-North Coast man has been jailed after a one-punch attack on a co-worker which left him with a black eye.

Brodie Pou faced Coffs Harbour Local Court on September 14 on one count of assault causing actual bodily harm and another count of intimidation.

The 34-year-old from Urunga was at the core of a dispute with a co-worker, who Pou had repeatedly threatened over accusations involving Pou’s partner.

Police documents show Pou sent a series of aggressive messages over social media to the victim, threatening him on numerous occasions on August 29 of last year.

“Me n u go have words c**t”, Pou said to the victim.

Witness statements provided to the court state that Pou punched the victim once in the face in a workplace altercation, leaving him with a black eye after two days of fearing for his physical safety.

“U want sort it or I sort it in me own way,” Pou texted again.

The court heard the victim confided in Pou’s partner his fears - “half of Urunga is after us”.

Magistrate Julia Virgo was highly critical of Pou in sentencing.

“The assault took place in the workplace, and I have found at hearing that the actual assault was without provocation, and with a significant difference in your physical sizes,” Ms Virgo said.

“The victim has a right to feel protected, and to earn a wage - there is simply no justification for the meting out of the assault.

“It was obvious when (the victim) gave evidence that he was afraid at the time, and there was some evidence that he was afraid in giving evidence before me.”

Ms Virgo noted that Pou was on a community corrections order for a previous domestic violence property damage charge that was put in place on August 23, only for the offences before the court to happen on August 29 and 31.

“His record does not assist him at all - there are significant numbers of violent offences on that record,” Ms Virgo noted.

On the intimidation charge, Pou was sentenced to a two-year community corrections order and fined $2500.

On the assault causing actual bodily harm charge, Pou was sentenced to a 14-month term of imprisonment, with his non-parole period ending in April 2023 after it was backdated to include two months of pre-sentence custody.

Pou’s partner, present in court on Wednesday, sobbed as Ms Virgo read out the sentence, pausing for administrative clarity.

Pou was largely unmoved by the sentence, consoling his partner.

He has been bailed pending appeal.