Portland man pleads guilty to alcohol-fuelled violence

Nunzia La Rosa's comments were made during the hearing of a 20-year-old man who pleaded guilty in Portland Magistrates Court on Tuesday to criminal damage and assault-related offences.

The court heard the charges related to three separate occasions when the man was heavily intoxicated between October 18, 2020 and June 26 last year.

During one incident he became enraged over music being played and struck another male to the face with a "hook-style punch".

The victim was taken to the Portland emergency department with nasal plate fractures and was referred to a south-west plastic surgeon.

On another occasion the man punched the glass window panelling of a residential home a number of times, causing $300 of damage and significant cuts to his arm.

Police were called, the man was found in a heightened state and OC spray was deployed twice before he fell to the ground.

The man later told police he was heavily intoxicated and couldn't remember anything.

A Victoria Legal Aid lawyer representing the man said he was just 18 and 19 at the time of the offending, which she said occurred in the context of "mental health deterioration".

She said her client was extremely remorseful for his actions and the male victim's broken nose occurred in a "scuffle with a friend which has gone seriously wrong".

The woman told the court the man had no criminal history and an intervention order had seen him temporarily removed from the family home, which she said came as a "wake up call".

The magistrate said the community was tired of "angry, alcohol-fuelled, predominantly young men taking their displeasure out on anybody and everybody".

He said it was necessary to impose a sentence that reduced behaviours associated with alcohol misuse.

He adjourned the matter for a further plea and sentence at a later date.

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