A YOUNG man who launched an "unprovoked, vicious and sustained attack" on a "vulnerable" Chinese national on a Newcastle tram has been jailed for a maximum of four-and-a-half years.
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Thayne Inglis was born in the Townsville Correctional Centre, has a 229-page criminal record and at 22 is already at serious risk of institutionalisation, having spent most of his life since turning 14 behind bars.
On parole and conditional bail for a terrifying armed robbery on a Sydney tobacconist, Inglis had only been released from jail a week before he and a large group of teenagers boarded a tram at the Wickham interchange late on the night of October 27 last year.
Inglis began speaking to another passenger, a Chinese national, who said "just leave me alone" before Inglis stood over him and suddenly began punching him in the face, according to court documents.
The victim ended up on the floor and Inglis continued to punch and kick him while he covered up and tried to protect himself.
One of Inglis' mates also kicked the victim, who got up off the ground and tried to defend himself by punching out at Inglis.
This prompted Inglis to again punch and kick the victim and one of his mates also laid into him and stole his backpack.
When the victim tried to get his bag back he was repeatedly punched and kicked.
A passenger intervened and told Inglis and his mate that the victim had "had enough", but by that stage the victim had been bashed for about two minutes, the attack captured on CCTV.
Inglis and the others got off the tram at Civic and one of his mates was spotted carrying the victim's bag, which contained a laptop, iPhone, the victim's Chinese passport and other personal documents.
The victim remained on the tram and the driver called police before the victim was taken to hospital suffering a laceration above his right eye, swelling and bruising to his face and grazes.
When the tram returned towards the Newcastle interchange about 12.22am, Inglis and his mates got back on and were spotted by the driver, who called the police.
Police met the tram at the Newcastle interchange and when it arrived, the driver locked the doors, trapping the group inside.
At some stage after the assault, Inglis had grabbed the victim's mobile phone and when police were speaking to him he tried to subtly take it out of his pocket and drop it on the floor.
As well as the Newcastle tram attack, Inglis admitted to committing a hold-up on a Sydney tobacconist in June 2022, during which he put a pair of scissors to the throat of a shopkeeper and stole $800 and a dozen cartons of cigarettes.
He pleaded guilty to armed robbery, assault occasioning actual bodily harm in company and accessory after the fact to robbery in company.
Judge Phillip Mahony, SC, said last week that what happened on the Newcastle tram "was an unprovoked, vicious and sustained attack on a vulnerable victim" and jailed Inglis for a maximum of four-and-a-half years, with a non-parole period of two-and-a-half years.
With time served, Inglis will be eligible for parole in May, 2025.
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