A South Australian man has released an emotionally charged account of an Australia Day coward punch attack which has left him struggling to recover for the past two years.

"You're not a hero, you're a weak piece of s--- and you need to know that kind of tough guy image just needs to go," Josh Lynagh, who raps under the name Streamlyne, sings in the clip.

The track is rapidly gathering views on social media.

Josh, now 27, was celebrating with friends at a hotel in Mount Gambier in South Australia's south east on Australia Day, 2014, when he was drawn into a confrontation with a man who had indecently assaulted his then-girlfriend.

View photos Josh 'Streamlyne' Lynagh launches an empassioned plea to end 'tough guy' culture. Photo: Screenshot More

"I went up to him and asked him, 'keep your hands to yourself'," Josh told Yahoo7

"I said if he touched her again I'd be getting security.

"He threw me up against the wall and then someone who knew him came up and hit me in the side of the head."

According to Josh, his memory fails at this point but security footage from the hotel showed the man raining punches onto the top of his head while he was unable to defend himself.





The first man received a suspended sentence for indecent assault but Josh's attacker left town for Western Australia and has never been found or charged.

Josh was treated on the scene by ambulance officers.

Two years on, Josh says both a GP and a psychiatrist have suggested he suffers symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder which has rekindled previously controlled bouts of anxiety.

He said his incident was on the 'lower end of the scale' in light of the fatal attacks that have recently made the news, but he hoped his song, Australia Fair, would still serve as a reminder of the devastating consequences that can follow a punch.

View photos Josh Lynagh said the man who attacked him was never charged. Photo: Screenshot More

Since the attack Josh has struggled to sleep more than two hours at a time, has sometimes struggled to keep up with work and has been trying different combinations of legal drugs and alternative treatments to overcome the attack.

He said he hoped his song carried a message that split second decisions to throw punches could have lasting and tragic effects.

It was possible, he suggested, that his attacker was "probably just a normal guy" who could now see the video but remain unaware that it was about him.

"But you're back in Perth with that Akubra on, and I'm here tired as hell writing this stupid song," Josh sings.

"I shouldn't have to say this s---, but now I must. Don't call it a king hit when it's just a coward punch."

Since releasing the song onto the internet two days ago, it has attracted close to 20,000 views and has seen people from around Australia and the world contacting Josh to tell their own versions of tragically similar stories.





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