Sydney banker described punch as 'a tap'

An investment banker who knocked down a Sydney bouncer told police he just gave him "a tap" and didn't think the attack would end so badly.

An investment banker who knocked a bouncer unconscious at a Sydney bar later told police he just gave him "a tap" and didn't intend hurting him.

Fady Taiba went into a coma after being punched by James Longworth, 33, at Bar 333 on George Street in the city's CBD in September last year.

In footage shown to the Downing Centre Local Court on Monday, Mr Taiba can be seen denying Longworth entry to the bar.

The UBS banker walks away, before turning back and punching the security guard in the side of the head.

One witness told police Mr Taiba "fell like a tree" after the blow, while another said "he looked as though he was knocked down because he didn't put his arms out to try and stop his fall".

Longworth's barrister Hament Dhanji said his client admitted to punching Mr Taiba but denies intending to cause grievous bodily harm.

The 33-year-old has pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm but that has not been accepted by the prosecution.

After the attack, the court heard the banker told police that he never intended to hurt Mr Taiba, adding: "I gave him a tap ... I had no idea it would end like this".

Mr Dhanji said Longworth had no criminal history and was "significantly" intoxicated at the time.

He made the comments at a hearing in which he sought to question a number of civilian witnesses at Longworth's committal hearing about the force of Longworth's punch and whether it rendered the security guard unconscious before his head hit the ground.

"Whilst it can't be seen in the footage, the victim was in fact standing on a raised platform or step before falling back a further distance ... adding to the intensity of the fall," Mr Dhanji added.

But Magistrate Carolyn Huntsman dismissed his application to speak to those witnesses, saying that their accounts were largely consistent with each other and there was no need for them to give evidence at the October 3 hearing.


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