JORDAN Prior doesn’t remember being king-hit, but he still has nightmares about it.

The young father wakes up in a cold sweat some nights and dreads walking down Flinders St, where he will be surrounded by drunks.

Mr Prior was elbowed to the side of the head without warning in a cowardly attack on May 7 at 4.45am, leaving him sprawled on the footpath for four minutes.

His attacker, Lee Thomas Anderson, pleaded guilty to the attack this week and received a $600 fine, with no conviction recorded.

Incredibly, two more people pleaded guilty this week to separate king-hit attacks.

A misunderstanding over whether Mr Prior wanted to make a complaint led to police charging his attacker with public nuisance.

The charge carries a maximum six months’ imprisonment. Mr Prior said he had strong words with Anderson while they were both out on Flinders St, but never saw the punch coming.

“We were all drinking ... then we headed out on to the walkways,” he said. “As I got outside I got into a bit of an argument with this lad. I turned away and I was talking to the boys and I got struck to the back of the head, knocked unconscious.

“All I remember is waking up in the ambulance.”

It is understood police are considering appealing against the sentence.

The attack happened in front of Mr Prior’s cousins and partner.

Mr Prior was hospitalised for two hours.

Medical staff discharged him and told him not to sleep for a long time, to check he didn’t show any sinister signs.

“I’ve still got a bit of swelling on my head,” he said.

“I had to go see doctors, I had to have a CAT scan to make sure there were no blood clots or bleeding to the brain. It was the first time I’ve ever done all of that ... I was a bit scared.”

Mr Prior said he initially turned away the opportunity to make a formal complaint against his attacker, but agreed to a week later.

He said a police officer urged him to reconsider making a complaint, calling his recollection “weak”, but police deny that.

The attack has prevented the father of two from returning to work at Palm Island council, where he is a concreter.

He said his attacker, a former soldier who now works as a security guard at Manus Island detention centre, received only a slap on the wrist.

“I’m pretty p***ed ... I’m not happy with what he got,” he said.

“I was just shocked he got a fine. My life was at risk. He’s trained in combat, he was in the army.

“I think he should have at least got time (in jail) out of it. They’re talking about this coward punch, so why isn’t it taken seriously?”

Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie said he understood the community’s frustrations.

He said the introduction of the Safe Night Out strategy would seek to ensure the state’s night-life precincts were safe for all.

“We’ve introduced a new offence of ‘unlawful striking causing death’ which will carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and require the offender to serve 80 per cent of his or her prison sentence,” he said.