A NSW Central Coast man who killed a pub patron by stomping and booting his head "like someone kicking a soccer ball" has been jailed for 16-and-a-half years.
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Jayden Mason was on Thursday remembered as a "gorgeous larrikin" with a "heart of gold" after Ryan Vincent Paterson and Benjamin Keith O'Brien were sentenced in the Supreme Court for his 2017 manslaughter.
Justice Stephen Rothman ordered Paterson, 37, to serve a 16-and-a-half-year sentence with a non-parole period of 12 years and five months.
O'Brien, 31, was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years' imprisonment with a minimum term of five years and six months.
Outside court, Mr Mason's grandmother Debbie Mason described her family's relief at the sentence and paid tribute to the 21-year-old.
"We're very pleased that it's all over," she said.
"Because Jayden got justice. Justice for Jayden ... They chased him. If they hadn't have chased him, he'd be here today."
After a brief verbal altercation outside Wyong Leagues Club, Paterson and O'Brien chased Mr Mason 165 metres down the road before punching and kicking him to the ground and leaving him lying unconscious on June 24, 2017.
The court heard the confrontation occurred after Mr Mason was kicked out of the club for yelling at the poker machines and being intoxicated.
He unleashed a series of racial epithets and expletives before twice attempting to charge at two security guards and being tackled to the ground.
O'Brien and Paterson soon afterwards arrived at the club on a courtesy bus after drinking at a nearby hotel.
The two parties exchanged words, with Paterson and O'Brien telling Mr Mason "come on c***" and unsuccessfully throwing punches at him.
Mr Mason ran off, zigzagging across Lake Haven Drive while being chased by Paterson and O'Brien - who had his shirt off and fists clenched - and another man.
He slipped and fell into the gutter, where O'Brien punched Mr Mason. Paterson then twice kicked him in the head, despite the first blow knocking him unconscious.
Paterson then jumped in the air and landed on Mr Mason's head with both feet.
"The kick to the head was described as like someone kicking a soccer ball and it rendered the deceased unconscious," Justice Rothman said.
"The second kick and the stomping were affected when the deceased's head was on the ground and he was seemingly unconscious."
The men left Mr Mason lying on the roadway. He was shortly afterwards hit by a car which was unable to swerve.
Paterson was at the time on parole for a 2008 grievous bodily harm conviction and the court heard he had a lengthy history of violent offences.
O'Brien was on parole for drug offences.
"This case, as much as any, shows that the cultural tolerance of drunkenness and the violence perpetrated by persons who are drunk is a scourge on society," Justice Rothman said.
"Further, it must be said, that cultural drunkenness seems to be accepted, if not encouraged, as part of social or societal interaction."
Australian Associated Press
