A man who brutally attacked two teenage girls during a shocking brawl in a Sydney park could be kicked out of rehab because he is struggling to stay away from drugs, a court has heard.
Jesse Leilan Mackenzie punched one girl in the head and dragged another by the hair over a retaining wall as he and two others bashed a group of teens in Pyrmont on Mardi Gras night last year.
Footage captured by a witness quickly spread following the incident, showing the 29-year-old punch both victims in the head and drag the 15-year-old by her hair towards a ledge.
Mackenzie was handed a maximum sentence of 20 months in jail with a non-parole period of 10 months in the Local Court in July last year, but he was immediately granted bail hours later after launching a severity appeal to be heard in the District Court.
He appeared at the Downing Centre Local Court on Monday where the court heard he had entered the Wayback rehabilitation program once he was released from custody.
The court heard he had been having issues with abstaining from drugs and had been having relapses, with Wayback considering kicking him out of the program.
His legal aid lawyer told the court Mackenzie had been in rehab for 224 days, but spent 34 days suspended from the program.
“While this isn’t the report the court was hoping for, he is engaging quite well with Wayback … he’s attending counselling and he is able to challenge his negative thought patterns and patterns of drug use,” she said.
“He is self aware and he is in counselling but what he is struggling with is being abstinent from substances.
“He wants to remain ultimately substance free but he is struggling to do that.”
She said drugs are “easily available” for him when he’s having a “hard day” in the program.
The court heard Mackenzie is due to meet with officials at the rehab centre on Tuesday, where he will need to convince them his desire to stay and complete the program.
Judge Robert Sutherland said he was considering imposing a backdated sentence but is waiting to hear whether Mackenzie will be kicked out of Wayback.
“If they kick him out, I’ll come back to court and hear what developments there are,” the judge said.
“Mr Mackenzie, do your best to convince them you can adhered to the program and if you can’t, we’ll see what will happen on the 5th of May.”
During his sentence in July, Magistrate Clare Farnan said any reasonable person would have feared for their safety during the ferocious attack that was “apparently random in nature” and aimed at children.
The court heard his involvement in the brawl breached a community corrections order imposed on him for separate offences of assault and damagxjmtzywing property committed against his ex-partner last August.
The vicious assault of the girls at Pyrmont’s Pirrama Park on March 6 went viral after disturbing mobile phone footage of the incident was splashed across social media.
It followed a heated argument between a group of young girls and three fully grown men, including Mackenzie, the court was told.
Footage played in court showed Mackenzie throwing punches at one girl before later grabbing another girl’s hair and pulling her for up to five metres over a ledge with a one-metre drop.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Chris Manning said Mackenzie had multiple opportunities to walk away from the fight but chose to stay and inflicted injuries and “substantial” emotional harm on his victim.
The court heard Mackenzie, during an interview with corrective services, blamed the girls and their friends for sparking the brawl by “antagonising” him and his mates.
Sergeant Manning said that was no excuse: “He was a 29-year-old man versus a 15-year-old girl.”
Ms Farnan ultimately granted Mackenzie bail after he lodged a severity appeal against her judgment, with the magistrate finding he had reasonable prospects of success.
The court will hear whether he will stay in rehab or be released into the community on May 5.
