A Canberra man who delivered an unprovoked, near-fatal single punch to an Irish tourist has avoided spending further time behind bars.
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Daniel Byrne, 22, struck victim Timothy McCarthy in the head outside a Civic convenience store late at night on the 23 July, 2011.
The tourist had come up to Byrne's group and hugged one of them, before Byrne slapped him twice in the head. The victim then hugged Byrne.
CCTV vision shows the offender taking a step back and punching the victim in the head, knocking him out and causing him to fall back, his head bouncing off the ground.
Mr McCarthy suffered critical head injuries, and would have died without medical assistance.
He was intubated, paralysed and ventilated, and a portion of his skull was removed to relieve pressure on his swollen brain.
Mr McCarthy was on life support at one point, and was unconscious for eight days.
His neurosurgeon said he would almost certainly suffer permanent cognitive impairment, and was at risk of epilepsy in the future. Mr McCarthy's mother came to Australia believing she was going to have to turn off his life support.
Byrne ran from the scene, and later hid from police, but was eventually arrested and brought before the court.
He was found guilty at trial in the ACT Supreme Court and served a total of seven months in custody, before successfully appealing and having his conviction overturned.
The prosecution then made a plea deal with Byrne, seeing him plead guilty to the lesser offence of causing grievous bodily harm, which at the time only carried a two-year maximum penalty, the same as a common assault.
He appeared for sentencing before Justice Richard Refshauge on Friday morning.
Justice Refshauge said Byrne had stayed away from alcohol since the offence, had not committed further offences, and had shown good prospects of rehabilitation.
He is now studying during the week and working as a labourer on Fridays and Saturdays.
Byrne told the author of a pre-sentence report that he "felt very bad" about the assault and "wish it had not happened".
Justice Refshauge accepted the case represented a "very serious version of the offence", describing the victim as vulnerable and the attack as without genuine provocation.
He said his sentence needed to reflect the harm done to Mr McCarthy, but also consider Byrne's youth, his "excellent" prospects for rehabilitation, and the delay of four years in finalising proceedings.
Byrne was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, starting from September 2014, which was wholly suspended.
Justice Refshauge ordered Byrne be of good behaviour for two years.