A Sunshine Coast magistrate has slammed a security firm owner as “cowardly and un-Australian” for repeatedly kicking a handcuffed woman in the face at a suburban shopping centre.

Neil Scott Ironside, 41, had rushed to Noosa’s Bay Village shopping centre in May last year to find his employee and friend Ben Tomkinson lying critically injured with a 10 centimetre kitchen knife embedded in his chest.

The stabber, Amanda Rae George, was handcuffed on the ground and, within 12 seconds of arriving on the scene, according to CCTV footage, Mr Ironside kicked her in the face. He kicked her twice more and then delivered a knee to her upper body, causing a black eye, bruising and abrasions.

Magistrate John Parker said despite the stabbing and the alleged provocation, Mr Ironside went too far.

“It’s the duty of a security officer to prevent violence, not to commit it...There’s a tendency in today’s society to put in the boot. In my day ... it was cowardly and un-Australian to stick the boot into anyone, particularly a helpless woman. Nowadays it seems quite common to give the boot. It can’t be permitted to go on," he said.