The comments came when Magistrate Karen Stafford was sentencing Adam John Cundy, 26, for punching two men at the start of the year.

Defence solicitor Patrick Kennedy claimed one of the victims had tried to instigate the fight over Facebook, providing these comments as part of his client’s evidence.

Magistrate Stafford said she often watched the social networks and was “pretty fed up” of seeing comments lead to crime.

“I wonder if Mr Zuckerberg imagined people would use [Facebook] to incite punch ups in Armidale,” she said.

“This is a serious offence ... It’s not the wild west.

“Incitements over Facebook do not take into account the community cost [of violent crimes].”

The court heard Cundy caused actually bodily harm to one of the victims during a struggle on the ground, when Cundy also sustained scratches and grazes.

The other man’s injuries included three large lumps on his head and multiple cuts.

Cundy and his co-offender also attacked another man, who Cundy punched to the ground and the two perpetrators tried to kick him in the head.

He had pleaded guilty to the charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm at the start of a hearing into the incident, having previously pleaded guilty to common assault and deposit litter.

The father of three was fined $100 for littering and received a fully suspended jail sentence of nine months.

He was also ordered to complete 100 hours of community service, with the magistrate saying it would give Cundy the opportunity to give something back as he “did not appear to contribute much to the community except to be on Centrelink payments and [commit] acts of violence”.