A Lyneham man spent the weekend in custody after beating his friend unconscious outside Canberra strip club Wanderlust.
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Surveillance footage from a nearby brothel captured the early Saturday morning assault.
Documents tendered in court say the footage shows Patrick Jason Merritt hitting the victim in the head before he falls to the ground. Merritt, 29, bends over and punches the man several more times before he and another man drag the victim to the side of the road.
"The punches appear forceful," the documents say.
He and another man ran off when an employee from one of the nearby establishments said she had called police.
When police arrived, they found the victim was unconscious. He had bruising, cuts and swelling to his face and head and torso and a bloated stomach, police said.
A CT scan later revealed the victim's injuries included multiple haematoma on his brain, fractured jaw, fractured collarbone, perforated bowl and a lacerated liver.
A woman walking near by witnessed the attack and ran into the Wanderlust Gentleman's Club to ask an employee to call the police. The employee called police and then ran out to the men and told them she was calling police. The men fled, leaving the victim unconscious on the ground.
In an interview with police, Merritt said he had been drinking since Friday afternoon.
He claimed that during the night his friend went "loopy" and started slapping his head and threatening him.
Merritt said he left the club with another friend at about 2am on Saturday, but the victim followed them out.
He said the victim was threatening him, saying, "you're a f--kwit, I'll kill you."
The documents say he told police he slapped the victim on the ground because he thought he was faking, but the man did not wake up.
He told police he was acting in self-defence.
But police said, "That's not self-defence. He went down and you kept hitting him."
Merritt replied: "I know, I didn't think a few slaps would do that.
"I have no regrets, it was him or me."
Merritt appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday where he pleaded guilty to recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm.
His release on bail was not opposed by prosecutors. Magistrate Robert Cook freed him from custody on a list of conditions.
He will be sentenced at a later date.
