Zye Smith jailed for brutal bashing on Grafton street

A young “thug” who bashed a pedestrian and kicked him in the head once he fell has been slammed by a magistrate as “pathetic”.

A Grafton teenager with a lengthy criminal history has been slammed as a “thug” after a vicious street attack.

A young “thug” who bashed a pedestrian and kicked him in the head once he fell has been slammed by a magistrate, who labelled him “pathetic”.

Zye Smith approached a group on Ryan St in Grafton on November 8 last year.

The 18-year-old was “looking for a fight”, according to court documents.

He yelled “have a go” to the victim, who attempted to back away from the riled up Smith.

Smith then unleashed a flurry of punches without provocation.

The victim fell to the floor and was then kicked and punched in the head by Smith.

The victim fell to the floor and Smith kicked and punched him in the head several times.

A bystander stepped in to stop the violence and the victim was left bruised and bloodied.

Days after, on November 11, Smith broke into a Grafton home and stole four small children’s motorbikes.

The owner of the bikes spotted Smith hooning on Armidale Road and starting filming him before he was arrested soon after, on November 14.

Smith faced Grafton Local Court over video link on February 7.

He pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, being carried in conveyance taken without consent, causing or permitting use of an unregistered vehicle and unlicensed driving.

Defence lawyer Joshua Craig asked the court to consider Smith’s significant background of disadvantage.

Grafton Local Court.

“His family had broken down,” Mr Craig said.

The court heard Smith suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) caused by drug and alcohol abuse in his family.

Magistrate Roger Prowse said Smith would remain behind bars.

Magistrate Roger Prowse was brutal in his choice of words when handing down his judgment.

He said the decision to keep Smith locked up was “rock solid, gold plated – diamond encrusted”

Mr Prowse condemned Smith’s behaviour.

“You had a pathetic stance of being a hard nut to impress others and yourself,” he said.

“Well you’re not that impressive at all.”

Mr Prowse said Smith posed a great risk to the public.

“You took a disliking to someone so you tried to provoke him in to fighting you,” he said.

“You think you’re a big person – but clearly on this occasion you were a gutless coward.”

Smith interjected: “He wanted to fight me.”

Mr Prowse was scathing as he handed down his judgment.

“You’re an unmitigated thug – that’s why you’re not getting put back out on the streets,” he said.

Smith was sentenced to two years in prison, backdated to November 13 last year, with a non-parole period of 16 months.