Corey Tapine, 36, pleaded not guilty on Monday to two charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and one count of aggravated break and enter following an incident at the Cargo Inn on June 25, 2016.

The Crown alleged Tapine glassed a woman who was originally at the venue to commemorate a person who had recently died, enjoy a few drinks and dance with a friend, but started working behind the bar to assist staff later on in the night. 

In closing submissions on Wednesday, Crown prosecutor Chris Bailey said closer to midnight, the publican’s wife began asking people to leave so she could close the venue but Tapine would not leave.

He said an attempt to take his drink from him ended in beer being spilt on the publican’s wife and when the bartender tried to take the drink, he glassed her, causing lacerations to the right side of her face and upper lip.

“He struck her with sufficient force to break the glass and cause the injury,” he said. 

Mr Bailey said a man present at the bar saw Tapine swing the glass towards the bartender and challenged him, prompting Tapine to hurl a barstool at him, injuring his right arm, forearm and wrist. 

An altercation then began between Tapine and the publican, who was able to eject Tapine from the premises and lock the door.

But Tapine admitted to police he used his boots to force the door open. 

Mr Bailey told the court considering Tapine had only been outside a short period of time, it was reasonable for Tapine to assume people were still inside. 

“[One of the witnesses] said she was terrified – if she felt that, a person of reasonable firmness also might feel that way,” he said. 

The court heard from the two assault victims, the publican and the publican’s wife during the trial and Mr Bailey asked the jury to consider them credible witnesses.

But Tapine’s barrister, Duncan Brakell, submitted there were inconsistencies in the witnesses’ testimony, pointing out the bartender believed he struck her with his right hand, while two other witnesses believed it was the left.

He also said the second assault victim did not see the glass leave Tapine’s hand or strike the bartender, only the motion. 

“Could there be a different explanation?” he said. 

Mr Brakell referred to earlier footage of the police interview with Tapine, where Tapine admitted to drinking a carton-and-a-half of beer prior to visiting Cargo Inn and suffered blanks in his memory.

“[The bartender] got on well with Corey earlier – there was no problem, Corey was quiet,” Mr Brakell said. 

Tapine told police he believed he had been hit or pushed from behind after drinking a shot at the bar and had had no further memory until the scuffle with the publican. 

Mr Brakell also pointed out there were no DNA or fingerprints left on the glass involved and despite police accounts of glass found in front and on top of the bar where Tapine was sitting, forensic photographs showed no such evidence. 

Directing the jury, Judge Michael King said the burden of proof was on the Crown and Tapine’s decision not to call any evidence during the trial was not an admission of guilt.

The jury took less than an hour to find Tapine guilty on all three charges.

Mr Brakell argued for bail to continue because Tapine only had a traffic offence on his record, but Mr Bailey argued the threshold for imprisonment had been crossed and Judge King refused bail. 

Tapine will be sentenced in Sydney in August.