A man who threw a punch outside a Huddersfield nightspot said he was in fear after a gang of 25 men surrounded him.
Hardeep Singh admitted hitting a man during the melee outside King’s Bar shortly after 7pm on August 20.
But Kirklees magistrates heard that he was frightened for his safety when the fighting men turned their attention on him.
The 32-year-old had denied assault but changed his plea to guilty on the day of his trial at Kirklees Magistrates’ Court .
Magistrates heard that the victim, Joe Dunstan, had been at the bar having a drink after watching the football.
He was stood outside the King Street bar when his attention was drawn to a disturbance involving lots of shouting, prosecutor Alex Bozman said.
Mr Dunstan stepped in to stop one of the men involved from getting hurt and Singh threw a punch at his eye, magistrates were told.
Mr Bozman said: “This was unprovoked, caught him off guard and he stumbled.”
Marnat Ali, mitigating, explained that his client had been out drinking in the town with two of his work colleagues.
He told magistrates: “There was an incident where there was a report of a number of individuals ganging up on an Asian male and a blow being thrown.
“Mr Singh was that male, police were called and there were up to 25 individuals involved in the altercation.”
Mr Ali said that he could not say what Mr Dunstan’s involvement was in the row as there was no CCTV covering it but Mr Singh suffered facial injuries.
He added: “There was no real physical aggression shown by the complainant at the time and a punch was conveyed by Mr Singh.
“He felt in fear as he was being attacked and misread the situation.
“I feel sympathy with Mr Singh but the test is what a reasonable person would have perceived.”
Magistrates ordered Singh, of Long Lane in Dalton, to pay £100 fine plus £300 prosecution costs and £30 victim surcharge.
