A 28-YEAR-OLD Cairns man will spend two months in jail after finally pleading guilty to his part in a drunken city street attack almost six years ago.

Mario Sebastian Haughton appeared in Cairns District Court yesterday charged with assault occasioning bodily harm while in company.

Crown prosecutor Bob English told the court Haughton and a number of co-offenders bashed a 33-year-old man on the corner of Shields and Abbott streets on a Friday night in August 2002.

Mr English said the victim was walking toward the intersection with his girlfriend and others when a group of six to eight males crossed the road without looking for traffic.

He said the man called to the group, "Look out, you’ll get hit" and soon after, Haughton punched him in the face.

When the victim got up and threw a punch back, giving Haughton a bloody nose, the rest of the group circled around him and another offender punched the man in the head about eight times. When the victim was on the ground, the defendant kicked him in the ribs.

The group fled on foot but Haughton and another offender were caught by police. No one else has been charged.

The court heard Haughton was due to be sentenced for the offence in 2003 but did not appear in court because he was afraid of going to jail.

Defence barrister Michael Sumner-Potts said his client had two children and steady employment. Haughton had been at a bucks party and had no memory of what happened.

He said his client had not offended since the incident, which he described as "an abhorrent act of drunken stupidity".

Judge Sarah Bradley said Haughton and his co-offenders acted like "brutal thugs".

"The community of Cairns is sick and tired of young people getting drunk and attacking innocent people on the streets at night," Judge Bradley said.

She sentenced Haughton to nine months’ jail with parole after two months.

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