WA mine worker jailed for fatal punch

A man has been jailed for six years for killing a fellow fly-in fly-out mine work in an alcohol-fuelled king hit.

Christopher James Wilson, 30, had only met 46-year-old Patrick Frederick Healy a week earlier while they were working in Newman in WA's remote Pilbara.

The two men and a third, Macauley Dawson, had got on well while working and decided to meet up during time off at Wilson's home in Perth.

They went to the Hale Road Tavern in Forrestfield on the night of December 10, 2016, but an argument broke out between Wilson and Mr Healy at the pub.

Back at the house Wilson punched Mr Healy in the face at least once, and likely more times, leaving him unconscious.

He died from a haematoma after suffering a large injury to the back of his head, fractured jaw and lacerations.

Wilson then dragged him limp by his armpits to dump him out the front of his property but other people in the house confronted him.

He threatened them against telling police and said "or you'll be next and I'll have you".

Wilson then got in his car to drive to Geraldton to apparently see his son, crashed it on the way but made it to the town before handing himself in to police.

District Court Judge Ronald Birmingham criticised Wilson for his unprovoked physical attack and callous disregard after it for Mr Healy, who was 17 years older and only 175cm tall and slightly built compared to the offender's 195cm, 100kg frame.

"There's no justification for you to pursue him out the back and assault him as you did," he said.

Mr Healy was a quiet, passive person who was described by his older brother Alan as his 87-year-old mother's carer and from a close-knit family.

Wilson, the Collie-born son of a police officer, has a long criminal history involving alcohol and drug-fuelled violence, including once bashing two deaf men and assaulting police on two occasions.

Wilson will be eligible for parole after serving four years, meaning he could be released by December 2020.