The former leader of a vocal anti-Islamic group pleaded with a magistrate not to release footage of him attacking an 'Uber-driver' neighbour with a two-year-old watching on because he feared reprisals from "members of the left wing."

A previous figure at right-wing rallies, Ralph Cerminara stepped down from the leadership of the Australian Defence League after he was put behind bars for inciting a brawl in Lakemba, in Sydney's south-west, in December 2014.

But on March 24 last year Cerminara, 40, roused from the quiet life in a disturbing, sustained assault in which he publicly attacked a neighbour and threatened another in the mistaken belief a resident of his Marrickville apartment block had scratched his car.

A video aired in court showed Cerminara repeatedly shoving the neighbour and yelling at him to "stop f---ing touching my f---ing car."