A BENDIGO man who cradled an infant on the roof of a Flora Hill unit after taking part in the gang bashing of another man has been jailed.Daryl Wellington, 25, was found by police drunk and holding a baby on the roof of the unit immediately after the attack.Wellington pleaded guilty to charges of recklessly causing serious injury and affray in the Bendigo Magistrates Court yesterday. Prosecuting, Leading Senior Constable Mark Snell said Wellington joined a group of about 10 others – most aged between 12 and 17 years and all intoxicated – at a Flora Hill unit on February 27, 2009.“Sometime after 9pm they left the address and walked 50 metres down the driveway and abused and baited residents in neighbouring units,” Leading Senior Constable Snell said. “The 51-year-old victim went out to see what the commotion was all about.”Leading Senior Constable Snell said the man was bombarded by racial slurs and was king hit by one member of the group.“He was knocked to the ground and the group of at least 10 kicked and punched the victim,” he said.“He was hit with a shovel and a pot plant was thrown at him.“Then one of the offenders realised things were getting out of hand and called a stop to it.”Leading Senior Constable Snell said the victim received severe facial bruising, ligament damage to the jaw, and injured ribs in the attack.He said when police arrived they were pelted with rocks and bottles, most thrown from the roof of the unit.“Most of the offenders had left the property over the back fence... (But) the accused was located on top of the roof cradling an infant,” he said. “Police negotiated for a while before convincing him to hand over the child to police.”Wellington’s defence lawyer Shane Kennedy said his client had been handed the child by its mother who was concerned DHS might take the child away if police found it.Mr Kennedy said his client, an indigenous man who grew up in Swan Hill, had suffered a number of hardships over his life and had been addicted to alcohol and heroin from the age of 14.“He was on a combination of alcohol and xanax when these offences occurred,” he said.Mr Kennedy said Wellington, currently in jail on unrelated offences, had quit drugs while in prison and wanted to turn his life around once released, and was keen to regain custody of his six children.But Magistrate Bruce Cottrill lambasted Wellington’s repeat offending.“It would appear you have no capability for common sense in your behaviour,” Mr Cottrill said. “You pose a risk in the future not just to yourself but to the community at large.”He sentenced Wellington to 12 months jail for affray and eight months for recklessly causing serious injury, with four months to be served concurrently and a non-parole period of 12 months.