King-hit deaths prompt new law push
Aisha Dow– The Age Victoria
Published: December 2, 2013 - 3:00AM
''One-punch'' assaults have claimed 90 Australian lives since 2000, mostly in booze-fuelled bashings, a new study has found.
The victims were killed either by a single blow to the head or when falling and smashing their heads against the hard ground after being knocked unconscious.The findings have increased calls for Victoria to agree to tough king-hit laws, despite resistance from the state government.
Jennifer Pilgrim, a researcher at Monash University's Department of Forensic Medicine, said alcohol was involved in almost three-quarters of deaths recorded between 2000 and 2012. Dr Pilgrim said most of the victims were knocked unconscious when they were at a licensed venue (pub or nightclub), outside the venue or on their way home from the venue.
In more than a third of killings, the deceased (person who died) and the attacker did not know each other.
''There was a brief argument with someone they just met five minutes ago,'' Dr Pilgrim said.''One person throws a punch. A person goes down, hits their head and never again regains consciousness.''
NSW had the highest number of king-hits (28), followed by Victoria and Queensland (24 cases each).Recently, the NSW government joined Western Australia and the Northern Territory in pursuing one-punch laws.
The move came after widespread public disgust at the four-year minimum sentence given to the killer of 18-year-old Thomas Kelly, who was king-hit by a young man on a Kings Cross bashing spree.
But Victoria's Chief Lawyer, Robert Clark, said the government had no plans for change because existing dangerous-act manslaughter laws already carried a penalty of up to 20 years in jail.
Despite the government's opposition, Victorian families of king-hit victims are calling for immediate law reform to ensure long prison sentences for offenders.They will rally at Manningham City Square on December 15 to demand that judges be allowed to hand down the maximum 20-year sentence for manslaughter in king-hit cases.
''STOP. One Punch Can Kill'' rally organiser Michelle Kleinert is close friends with a family devastated by an alleged king-hit.MsKleinert said two years spent in prison did not equate to a life taken, yet some young people seemed to have an attitude that ''if you do something and someone dies, you'll get a couple of years. We need to start educating people that are coming up because I think the culture of king-hits is strengthening,'' she said.
Missing from the 90 deaths listed in the coroner's study are recent suspected one-punch deaths yet to be finalised in the courts. More than 40 per cent of fatal punches happened between midnight and 6am, according to the latest data.
Victoria Police Superintendent Rod Wilson said he had observed problems when patrons ''hit the air'' outside after leaving bars.Superintendent Wilson said it was the responsibility of venue operators to make sure partygoers were consuming alcohol responsibly and screening patrons before they were let in. ''You've got to talk to people. It's not good enough to look at them and say 'come in','' he said.
NSW Police Superintendent Pat Paroz said perpetrators had only themselves to blame.''It is not 'normal to get intoxicated and then beat someone up, and we shouldn't accept that because a person was drunk it somehow reduces their level of responsibility for their actions,'' Superintendent Paroz said.
St Vincent Hospital's emergency department director Gordian Fulde said he treated four or five ''absolutely obvious'' king-hits while working at the Sydney hospital each Friday and Saturday night.Professor Fulde is a supporter of a move to force pubs and clubs to close earlier, with experts pointing to evidence that bringing forward closing times to 3am reduces assaults by more than 30 per cent.
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