NSW one-puncher 'made example of': victim

After losing part of his skull and enduring multiple surgeries, former Sydney bouncer Fadi Taiba has a simple message for his one-punch attacker - "You've made your bed, now lay in it".

James Ian Longworth, an administration worker at an investment bank in Sydney, left Mr Taiba suffering serious brain damage when he struck him as he was working outside a CBD bar in September 2013.

The 35-year-old was sentenced on Thursday to at least three years behind bars at Downing Centre District Court after being convicted in October last year of recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm.

Still suffering from frequent seizures, Mr Taiba requires 140 medications to manage his injuries and changes personality "in a split second".

In a victim impact statement, he said the attack "will be with me until the day I die".

Outside court, he said he was simply relieved the ordeal was over.

"We've got a good outcome. We need to make future examples of these perpetrators," he said.

"All I can say to Longworth is that you've made your bed, now lay in it and think about what you did."

The court heard Longworth was suffering from depression at the time due to his father's death and the temporary misplacing of the ashes.

After consuming 10 drinks at a nearby pub, Longworth and his work colleagues tried to gain entry to Bar 333 on George Street, only to be refused by Mr Taiba at the door.

"Mr Taiba instructed that Mr Longworth was not sober enough to enter the bar. Obviously, he was responsibly discharging his duties," Judge Richard Cogswell said.

The men then stepped a few metres away from the entrance, only for Longworth to turn back and strike Mr Taiba while he was speaking with other patrons.

"He launched a heavy blow to Mr Taiba while he was turned away," Judge Cogswell said.

"One witness said he fell like a tree."

Mr Taiba hit his head on the ground and fell into a coma, with doctors ultimately having to remove a part of his skull.

Judge Cogswell said Mr Taiba's injuries were in the upper scale of grievous bodily harm but said the court could not find the punch was premeditated.

"The act was not accompanied by planning or calculation, but nor was it immediate or instinctive," he said.

In sentencing Longworth to a maximum of four years and 10 months in prison, Judge Cogswell said his depression and grief was a mitigating factor but his intoxication on the night was not.

He said it was sometimes the case that serious crimes are committed by good people, such as in the case of fatal road accidents, and that Longworth was "demonstrably remorseful".

Mr Taiba's son Adam, 19, disputed this notion.

"There is no good criminal," he said outside court, next to his father.

"We're not the same after this."

Longworth will be eligible for parole in February 2019.