NICK D’Arcy broke the jaw, eye socket, nose and cheekbone of fellow swimmer Simon Cowley in a bar fight, but he was not necessarily using excessive force, a Sydney magistrate said yesterday.

During sentencing submissions in Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court yesterday, magistrate John Favretto said it was clear D’Arcy had shown little self-control when drinking alcohol, but there was provocation.

“It was a case of self-defence, there is no doubt about that,” the magistrate said. “It is just the level of response. He is a young man, a very fit young man. It is not that he necessarily used excessive force … sometimes it’s how the punch is thrown.”

Mr Favretto said “young people in particular seem to need to prove their manhood, and they do that physically and violently instead of walking away”.

D’Arcy, 21, has pleaded guilty to recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm on Cowley in a Sydney bar in March last year. The incident led to D’Arcy being dropped from the Olympic team.

The court has heard Cowley slapped D’Arcy in the face during an altercation, and D’Arcy responded with a punch that left Cowley with fractures to his jaw, eye socket, cheekbone and nose.

D’Arcy’s lawyer, Richard Jankowski, pleaded with the court not to give his client a custodial sentence.

Last week, Cowley, 28, said he had been in constant pain and remained fearful of being attacked in public places.

Mr Jankowski said D’Arcy had demonstrated contrition and remorse over the punch.

Prosecutor Peter Aitkin said the court should impose a custodial sentence, not necessarily one of full-time custody. Options could include a suspended sentence. He said D’Arcy should at least continue undergoing counselling and supervision for anger management and alcohol abuse issues and could be banned from drinking alcohol altogether.

Mr Favretto said D’Arcy was not an alcoholic with a criminal history or a record of violence or mental illness, but a young man displaying poor impulse control.

He said an order preventing D’Arcy from drinking at all would be setting him up to fail, and such issues should be best left to theexperts.

Mr Favretto will hand down his sentence on March 27.

Credit: John Stapleton