A man who climbed into a stationary taxi and punched a passenger in the face has been given a custodial sentence in Orange Local Court.
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Semisi Tupou, 33, of Gersbach Place, was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm against four people, and one count of intimidation.
According to police, three of the victims and two witnesses were in a taxi that stopped in the middle of a street while they paid the fare at 3.15am on December 15, 2019.
Another car came up behind it and beeped its horn so the taxi driver moved over and yelled out the window.
Solicitor Mason Manwaring said Tupou, who was in the other car, misheard what was yelled.
He got out of the other car and climbed into the taxi and hit a 23-year-old man in the eye causing bruising.
A fight then started outside the taxi and a 24-year-old man who had been asleep in the back of the taxi and was unsure what was happening got out and Tupou struck him in the cheek causing a four-centrimetre cut and the man fell, grazing his elbows.
Tupou also punched a 21-year-old man in the jaw causing him to fall and resulting in memory loss.
That man's 19-year-old brother had been asleep inside a nearby house but went outside and confronted Tupou after seeing his brother being assaulted.
Tupou punched him in the nose causing it to bleed.
Before he left Tupou said, "I know where you live c***. I know where you f***ing live".
An ambulance took the 21-year-old to hospital and two days later he told police he still had jaw pain and headaches.
Tupou handed himself into police on December 18 and said he did not usually drink alcohol but he had been on the night of the assaults.
Magistrate David Day said the offending was serious.
"What saves him from going to jail is he has no convictions on his record," Mr Day said.
Tupou was given an 18-months of community-based custody by way of an intensive correction order, and he will have to complete 150 hours of community service.
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