Woollahra man Jay Yoshia jailed over domestic violence assault on Castlereagh St, Sydney

A man arguing with his girlfriend on a Sydney CBD street punched the woman so hard the blow was audible to a hotel guest staying three storeys above, a court has heard.

A man arguing with his girlfriend about cigarettes and an Uber punched the woman so hard the blow was audible to a hotel guest staying three storeys above, a court has heard.

Jay Yoshia, 29, was sentenced in the Downing Centre Local Court on Monday to nine months in jail after being found guilty of domestic violence-related common assault.

The Woollahra man had pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The court heard Yoshia and his then-partner had argued on Castlereagh St in the Sydney CBD about 2.30am on October 7 after having a few drinks.

A witness told the court she was “having a cigarette and people watching” on a third-floor balcony at the Oaks Sydney Castlereagh Suites when she saw three people, including Yoshia, described as “a very tall man”, and a woman heading towards Pitt St.

The witness was staying at the Oaks Sydney Castlereagh Suites in the Sydney CBD.

An hour later, the witness was woken by a commotion coming from outside.

She said the noise was “the same gentleman and the girl having a heated argument”.

The witness observed the assault from her balcony overlooking Castlereagh St

“I went to the balcony and I could see straight down,” the witness said.

“Her back was facing me. He was a metre in front of her. She was yelling, crying, screaming and crying out for help,” the witness said.

The witness said she then heard “the audible impact of a hit” before seeing Yoshia punch the woman a second time.

“I could hear the hit actually landing, then he put his left arm up and hit her in the face,” the witness said.

Jay Yoshia and the woman had been arguing on Castlereagh St,

“That’s when I yelled out to stop. He looked up. He saw me. I saw him stop. I said ‘you don’t hit a girl’, then he looked right at me and kept going.

“There was three hits, one I heard before I saw, one I saw and one where I saw him move toward her neck.

“He knew there were other people on balconies who could hear and had came out listening.”

Defence solicitor Tim Rayner questioned the witness’ level of alertness, noting she had just woken up at the time.

The witness said she was “fully awake” and her previous career as an on-call emergency nurse meant she was used to being suddenly woken.

Asked by Mr Rayner if there’d been “actually no physical contact”, the witness responded: “Unfortunately that’s not the case.”

The court also heard a second witness from the hotel had been assisting police but was unable to attend the hearing on Monday.

The police officer who arrested Yoshia said he had been “flagged down by witnesses”, who “pointed in the direction of the accused” after observing an altercation.

In his own version of events, Yoshia told the court the entire situation was a “major nothing” and firmly denied ever making physical contact with the woman.

“We had a little argument about the Uber and going home,” he said.

“I remember someone yelling out, making fun and antagonising the situation, so I walked off.

“When I came back, she was talking to some people, telling them to leave her alone, and then we just walked off together like nothing happened, because nothing did happen.”

The court also heard the woman didn’t want Yoshia to be charged and stated in an affidavit she hadn’t wanted him arrested on the night.

Magistrate Jacqueline Milledge ultimately said she was “absolutely satisfied” with the version of events given by the witness.

She said Yoshia also had a “terrible history of violence”, including five convictions for common assault.

Ms Milledge also noted that at the time of the hearing, Yoshia was remanded in custody on other domestic violence charges, the details of which were not specified in court.

Yoshia was ordered to spend three months of his sentence behind bars and, with time already served, will be eligible for parole on March 29.