A man has been refused bail after being charged over a New Year’s Eve attack in Sydney that has left a teenager fighting for his life.

Daniel Christie, 18, was punched to the ground at Potts Point last night and is in a critical condition at St Vincent’s Hospital.

Shaun McNeil is accused of attacking five people during celebrations in Kings Cross, including Daniel and his brother, who were set upon after witnessing an attack on three others.

McNeil has been charged with a string of offences including maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm.

The 25-year-old builder applied for bail at Parramatta Local Court this afternoon, but was refused.

Court documents said Daniel was likely to suffer from a major brain injury if he survives.

Hospital inundated with violent cases

The director of St Vincent’s emergency department, Dr Gordian Fulde, said the hospital dealt with many assault cases last night.

“People being punched to the head and knocked to the ground… every hour. Between one and three o’clock it was a lot more than two or three an hour,” he said.

“It’s sort of a moment of insanity with alcohol as the main factor here, we even had women punched to the ground and kicked. It’s just unbelievable.”

Paramedics were also busy, treating almost 500 people for injuries caused by falls, assaults or intoxication.

New South Wales Police said there was a disappointing number of arrests and incidents during New Year’s Eve.

Across the state 3,000 police officers were on duty and made more than 170 arrests over robbery, assaults and drug-related offences.

Officers also took 10 people into Sydney’s sobering-up centre.