A woman in her mid-70s shopping in central Albury got barged into the footpath by a man belligerently passing by, a court has heard.
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Bradley Luke Collins tried to tell police on his arrest later that day that he stopped to help the woman.
But the reality was he didn't, as was witnessed by a couple who went to the woman's aid as she lay on the ground outside West End Plaza in considerable pain.
The woman, 74, suffered grazes and bruises to her left elbow and bruises as a result of being knocked over by Collins on October 9.
And when police visited her to take a statement, again on the day of the incident, "she was still in immense pain".
Collins, 40, of Padman Drive, pleaded guilty to charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and intentionally or recklessly destroy or damage property.
The property charge related to the woman's $700 pair of prescription glasses, which were damaged in the fall.
Defence lawyer Dane Keenes told magistrate Sally McLaughlin that Collins had since taken steps to try to pay compensation to the victim.
Ms McLaughlin, on reading the police outline of the case, asked Mr Keenes whether the guilty plea by Collins to the assault charge was "on the basis of recklessness" rather than an intentional act.
"Yes," he replied.
Prosecutor Sergeant Andrew Coombs said it was "not explicit that it was an intentional offence".
But he said there also was no remorse from Collins.
"In the collision there was a high degree of force," Sergeant Coombs said.
Aside from his latest offending, Ms McLaughlin said it appeared there had been a "level of stability" with Collins since May of 2022.
Ms McLaughlin said the victim was just going about her daily life and would not have expected such an incident to take place.
"It's a less serious example of the offence," she said, though noted there "must have been a great deal of recklessness" from Collins in what was "a busy shopping area".
The court heard that Collins had mental health issues, but Ms McLaughlin said there was no clear link between those and what happened.
Police said the victim was walking north along the Kiewa Street footpath when she reached the area outside the shopping centre entrance, on the cusp of 1.30pm.
At the same time, Collins - seen on CCTV footage to be holding an iced coffee milk drink - was crossing Kiewa Street, heading towards the entrance.
"The accused has then walked into the victim, with (his) right shoulder hitting the victim on her right side of her body," police said.
"This hit has caused the victim to lose balance and fall over, landing on her left elbow."
A couple rushed to offer her assistance, but "the accused has continued to walk away from the victim, not once stopping to check on her".
About 8.50pm, police received a call from centre security to say Collins had returned.
When they arrived they saw him walking west on Dean Street.
Collins was stopped and spoken to near the taxi rank, then arrested and charged.
He was convicted, placed on a supervised seven-month community corrections order and fined $800.
