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A man has been jailed for nine years over the vicious and unprovoked assault of a refugee at Wollongong railway station last October.

Timothy Williams, 26, from the Illawarra, pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery with wounding, admitting he and co-accused Jaimee Lee Haynes, 28, were behind the October 6 attack, in which the victim was punched multiple times before being robbed.

The refugee, who had arrived in Australia from his native Eritrea only five days earlier, required stitches in his left ear and lost a tooth in the ordeal.

The entire incident was captured on CCTV, a matter presiding judge Paul Conlon said provided the court with a reliable account of how the incident unfolded.

"A viewing of this footage is all that is needed to make an accurate assessment of the objective seriousness of this offence," he said, describing Williams' actions as a "sickening attack".

"It is clear that when the offenders reached the station pedestrian walkway they were waiting for a victim.

"When the victim was stopped, it was also clear that there was a plan of action."

In handing down the judgment on Thursday, Judge Conlon slammed Williams' attempts to downplay the seriousness of the assault and his role in it during a conversation with a court-appointed psychologist.

"He provides [the doctor] with a palpably false version of his confrontation and vicious assault on an unsuspecting victim," Judge Conlon said, noting Williams had suggested that the victim had provoked him by calling him a "black bum".

"This footage serves to demonstrate the lie to any suggestion that the victim in anyway provoked this altercation."

Williams was given a non-parole period of six years, backdated to when he first taken into custody at the time of the offence.

He will be eligible for parole in 2019.

Haynes will be sentenced for her role in the assault on Friday.