A TEENAGER who filmed a savage beating at a Lake Macquarie boat ramp before joining in and raining down blows on the defenceless man as he cowered and screamed "I'm sorry" and "leave me alone" has narrowly avoided a jail term in Newcastle District Court.
Jake Kevin Potter, now 19, didn't know the victim or almost all the other people involved in the dispute but tagged along with a mate on the night of April 19 last year to the Eleebana boat ramp where the victim was having a barbecue.
The Instagram video shared online starts with a gruff voice shouting "what the f--- you talking shit for?" before the victim runs and repeatedly screams "leave me alone".
"You are dead," Potter's mate and fellow attacker, a 20-year-old man, yells out.
The two attackers catch up to the victim and the 20-year-old repeatedly punches him to the face and head before driving his knee into the victim's face.
Meanwhile, the victim is cowering, attempting to cover up and screaming "I'm sorry".
At this point, the 20-year-old stops punching the victim and takes the mobile phone from Potter.
"At this point, now free from his work as a cinematographer, Mr Potter started punching the victim to the back of the head," Judge Troy Anderson said on Friday.
Potter lands about five or six punches before the victim starts to "black out" and then Potter throws him to the ground.
"When I f---ing threw him on the ground, he was f---ing crying like a little bitch," Potter later bragged to a friend. "There was f---ing blood everywhere."
The victim managed to get to a friend's car but then Potter approached, opened the door and said "empty your pockets".
The victim refused, but Potter punched him in the face and pulled off his shoes before going through his pockets and stealing his wallet.
Covered in blood, the victim was taken to Belmont Hospital where he was treated for facial fractures.
Meanwhile, back at the picnic spot on Lake Macquarie, Potter and his mate were high-fiving and saying "he got what he deserved, I am so happy right now".
The court heard the savage beating stemmed from Potter's mate being displeased about the victim being in a relationship with a 16-year-old girl, the ex-partner of one of his friends.
Potter pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery and inflict actual bodily harm in March and spent 66 days behind bars.
But on Friday Judge Anderson found there was a causal link between the decision to join in on the attack and Potter's profound childhood deprivation and ordered he could be adequately punished by imposing a 20-month intensive corrections order with 180 hours of community service.
Potter's mate, the 20-year-old man, has pleaded not guilty to the bashing and robbery and will face a trial in Newcastle District Court later in the year.
