A man who viciously attacked a heavily pregnant Muslim woman in a Sydney cafe has been jailed for three years.
Rana Elasmar was 38-weeks' pregnant when Stipe "Steven" Lozina approached her, punched her several times and then stomped on her head at Parramatta's Bay Vista in November 2019.
The 32-year-old mother of four deliberately turned her abdomen away from her attacker and prayed for God to protect her child as she feared being killed.
Ms Elasmar, who was wearing a hijab at the time, said the 44-year-old first asked for money before assaulting her and yelling "you Muslims raped my mum".
Lozina appeared via video link on Thursday before Judge Christopher Craigie at Parramatta District Court, but was muted after repeating this assertion several times.
Judge Craigie then removed the unrepresented man from the hearing - an action he had never done before - after continued disruption.
Lozina had in a previous hearing interrupted crown prosecutor Sara Gul to ask her about her racial background.
Judge Craigie said Lozina hit Ms Elasmar about 14 times in a "very dynamic and swift outburst of violence" while she "cowered in terror".
The fact Ms Elasmar and her unborn child survived, he said, came through good fortune and the intervention of others, rather than any restraint from Lozina.
"The victim was justifiably terrified," Judge Craigie said.
Lozina previously said he attacked Ms Elasmar because she did not give him money but deflected several questions from Ms Gul about whether he hated Muslims.
"I don't hate them," the accused eventually said.
"But I don't get on with them. I have no business with them."
The offender also said he was a "chronic paranoid schizophrenic", felt remorseful for what happened and was "too violent" to walk free in public.
"I belong in a hospital," he told the court in September.
Lozina was handed a total sentence of three years after several times rejecting Legal Aid representation.
He will be eligible for parole on June 3, 2022.
