Gerard Filip Neskovcin, 35, yesterday pleaded guilty to common assault in the Launceston Magistrates Court.

The court heard Neskovcin waited for the victim to leave a public toilet in Invermay Road near the Mowbray Coles before assaulting him in September.

The victim told the court he was ‘‘king hit’’ after Neskovcin stated ‘‘you caused me f-----g brain damage a------e’’.

Neskovcin told the court he was travelling in a car when he spotted the man who snarled and raised his fists at him.

Despite saying he was scared of the man he got out of the car to confront him.

When the man emerged from a public toilet Neskovcin said he asked, ‘‘what, you can’t remember me?’’ before punching him.

The victim ran and then tripped.

‘‘(I) dragged him onto the footpath and clocked him a few times,’’ Neskovcin said.

However, the defendant said he showed restraint in not hurting the man more.

‘‘I could have given him what he’d given me,’’ he said.

Neskovcin said that he was assaulted by the complainant and others in Invermay when he was 15.

He said the attack left him brain damaged and he was awarded victims’ of crime compensation for it.

Nobody was ever charged and the man yesterday denied assaulting the accused but recalled a friend punching a belligerent Neskovcin some 20 years ago.

Under cross examination Neskovcin denied fabricating the story about the man provoking him before the assault.

Neskovcin also denied that the assault on him as a teenager occurred after he’d made a racist remark.

Magistrate Simon Brown adjourned the case to allow time for the prosecution and defence to gather more evidence.

The matter will be mentioned on Friday.