Brian William Mitchell chased a man while naked before attacking him with a steering lock

The victim had been walking to a taxi rank when a completely nude man jumped out of the bushes and asked him for a cigarette, but the situation quickly spiralled out of control.

A man has been sentenced after he used a steering lock to assault someone while he was naked.

A 59-year-old man who chased a 45-year-old down the street while naked before attacking him with a steering lock has been sentenced in court.

Brian William Mitchell pleaded guilty in Tweed Heads Local Court on June 18 to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and being armed with intent to commit an indictable offence.

Court documents reveal on February 17, 2019 at 3.10am, the victim had left an address at Hill Street to walk to the taxi rank at Twin Towns after he had been drinking at a 70th birthday earlier in the day.

The victim walked past a block of units and heard bushes rustling and turned to see Mitchell, naked, two metres away.

Mitchell walked up to the victim, asked for smokes, money and for his phone.

The victim said no and walked away before Mitchell jumped onto his back and grabbed him around the neck in a headlock.

The pair grappled until the victim fell to ground and was able to break free.

The victim had extreme pain in right knee before he limped down Hill Street and across Boundary Street.

Mitchell chased him and yelled “come here you f---head.”

The victim ran towards the Wharf Street taxi rank and saw Mitchell running towards him, armed with a club lock he was waving above his head in a striking motion.

The victim faced him and said: “There’s no need for this mate. There’s no harm done. You go your way, I’ll go mine.”

Mitchell swung the club lock at the victim several times, striking him in the face, knocking him to the ground before the victim blacked out.

He woke up and Mitchell hit him in the head and upper body area as he lay on the ground.

Police arrived and saw Mitchell naked on top of the victim, who had blood on his face.

The victim said “I was jumped out of nowhere” and “I got hit over the head with something”.

Police saw the car lock on the ground.

Mitchell told police he had been asleep in his car and was getting changed when the victim came running and kicked his car door and said “let’s fight like men”.

The victim suffered a fractured nose that required six stitches, right knee pain, a bruised left eyebrow, his left hand and wrists were swollen and he had abrasions to both elbows and right wrist.

Defence lawyer Russel Baxter told the court his client had recently moved away from the area after his previous neighbours in Palm Beach had created extensive conflict, driving his marriage to end.

Mr Baxter said at the time of the offence his client was under the influence of meth and alcohol which Mitchell had turned to after his relationship broke down.

He said his client was having difficulty dealing with the whole offence as he did not recall it.

Magistrate Jeff Linden said the offending could be explained by the intoxication.

“We see it so often and people’s whole being changes under the influence … of meth,” Mr Linden said.

Mitchell was sentenced to a 15 month intensive corrections order with 100 hours community service.