Nicholas Lambaditis: One-punch killer back in court for vicious Meadowbrook attack

A one-punch killer undertook a “vicious” assault in Meadowbrook when he repeatedly struck an unconscious man in the head as he lay motionless on the ground.

A one-punch killer from NSW who moved to Logan after getting out of jail has landed in court again for a “vicious” assault in Meadowbrook where he repeatedly struck an unconscious man in the head as he lay motionless on the ground.

Eagleby resident Nicholas Lambaditis, 41, pleaded guilty in Beenleigh Magistrates Court on Wednesday to one count of assault occasioning bodily harm.

Nicholas Lambaditis being escorted to a prison van after being sentenced to 6 years and 9 months for manslaughter in Sydney, Friday, June 12, 2015. Lambaditis pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Brazilian Lucio Stein Rodrigues after a fatal on-punch hit in November 2013. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins)

The court heard Lambaditis moved to Queensland from NSW for work shortly after completing a six-year and nine-month prison sentence for the one-punch attack that killed Brazilian man Lucio Stein Rodrigues in 2013.

He was still on parole when he got into a violent altercation with a man at the Meadowbrook Hotel on September 4, 2021.

CCTV footage of the incident played in court showed Lambaditis had been causing a disturbance in a hotel hallway about 2.57am when a man left his room to confront him.

The man pushed Lambaditis and a scuffle broke out between them during which Lambaditis knocks the man to the floor where he appears to be unconscious.

The footage shows Lambaditis bend down, straddle the victim and punch him in quick succession about 10-15 times in the face.

He then took a brief pause before winding up to deliver six long-drawn punches to the victim’s face as he lay unresponsive on the floor.

Lambaditis’ lawyer said his client had “lost his control for that very brief time” and deeply regretted his actions.

The court heard the victim had to be taken to hospital and had numerous lacerations to his face.

Magistrate Cameron McKenzie said he found it “dumbfounding” Lambaditis had committed the “vicious assault” after he was sentenced by the New South Wales Supreme Court in 2013 on the charge of assault occasion bodily harm and manslaughter to which he received nine years imprisonment, and served just under seven years before being released on August 2020.

He marked the 81 days Lambaditis spent in pre-sentence custody as time served and sentenced him to 18 months imprisonment with a parole release date on January 28, 2022.

Originally published as Nicholas Lambaditis: One-punch killer back in court for vicious Meadowbrook attack