A Sydney man accused of biting through the nose of former Hells Angels bikie Peter Zervas has been refused bail.

Police say Nicholas Harafias, 28, set upon Mr Zervas outside the 37-year-old’s Leichhardt unit block in Sydney’s inner west on Tuesday afternoon after Mr Zervas answered an intercom call.

Mr Harafias allegedly bit off half his nose before running away.

Mr Zervas managed to salvage the tip of his nose and and it has since been reattached by surgeons.

Mr Harafias was arrested near his Hurlstone Park home on Thursday afternoon and appeared before Burwood Local Court on Friday charged with affray and causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

Harafias, wearing a black T-shirt, sat expressionless in the dock as his legal team applied for his bail on the condition he lived with his mother Helen, abided by a strict curfew and did not go near Mr Zervas.

But Magistrate Margaret Quinn agreed with the prosecution that those measures were not enough to alleviate the risk Harafias posed to both the community and to Mr Zervas.

“They would not be sufficient, in my view, to mitigate those risks,” she said.

Ms Quinn noted that even though Mr Zervas had not pressed charges over the incident and had declined to give a statement to police, the evidence against Harafias was strong.

The court heard that CCTV footage had captured the self-employed gym instructor arriving at the Leichhardt residence on Tuesday, and leaving covered in blood.

A search of Mr Harafias’ home uncovered blood-stained clothes, and the 28-year-old allegedly told police “he deserved it”.

Outside court on Friday, Harafias’s mother Helen ran out of court and down the street away from the waiting media.

Harafias will return to court on Monday.