Family of Patrick Cronin shed tears in court over senseless death
THE family of coward punch victim Patrick Cronin say they will be forever haunted by his tragic death.
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THE family of coward punch victim Patrick Cronin say they will be forever haunted by his tragic death.
Tears flowed freely as the Cronin family today addressed the Supreme Court during a plea hearing for Patrick’s killer Andrew William Lee.
Read more: Andrew Lee pleads guilty to coward-punch killing
Patrick Cronin killed trying to help a friend
Patrick’s parents Matt and Robyn and siblings Emma and Lucas all read victim impact statements to the court.
A further 89 statements were tendered by friends and family.
Among the statements made by the Cronins was a simple message: Pat didn’t need to die.
“My son was killed by a cowardly act. It was totally senseless, and did not need to happen,” his dad Matt said.
“It all could have been avoided, if one person had chosen not to throw a punch; a cowardly punch.”
Patrick, 19, was killed by Lee during a pub brawl at the Windy Mile pub in April last year.
The teen had been trying to help friends away from the brawl when he was punched in the head by Lee.
Patrick didn’t throw a punch during the brawl.
He wasn’t looking when Lee punched the side of his head, causing his fatal injury.
He was later taken to hospital and two days later his family made the agonising decision to turn off his life-support system.
The Cronins each said that day, Pat’s grandfather’s 80th birthday, was the worst of their live.
“My whole world feels wrong without Pat in it,” Robyn said.
“I cry all the time. (Pat) had everything ahead of him. It was all taken from him, in a moment.
“The horror of Pat being killed never leaves me.
“The lights and the colours left my world. I don’t know how to move forward, or to repair the hole in my heart.
“This didn't have to happen.”
Pat’s sister Emma described Lee as a monster.
She said she missed simple things about her brother, like his “clicky ankles” and “cheeky smile”, and regretted she’d never get the chance to be his mate.
He wouldn’t be at her wedding, and her kids would never know their uncle Pat.
“Any happy event in our family is shadowed by the fact that Pat’s not there,” she said.
Brother Lucas said he no longer felt a part of a complete family.
“I don’t get to look forward to enjoying the milestones of life. There will always be an ache for the man I don’t get to enjoy them with,” he said.
“Not a day goes by I don’t feel despair ... someone I did everything with, everyday, is no longer with me.
“I am now forced to live with deep seeded anger because of what happened to my little brother.”
Defence counsel Peter Morrissey SC said Lee was a “good person who’s done a bad thing.”
Mr Morrissey tendered 62 character references he said testified to his client’s good character.
He said the father-of-one knew he had to serve a term of imprisonment.
“Mr Lee’s very sorry for inflicting the pain that he has,” he said.
Lee, 34, was facing a mandatory minimum 10 year jail term under new legislation introduced to curb one-punch attacks.
But in a decision understood to have devastated the Cronin family, prosecutors decided not to see the mandatory term.
They had filed a notice of intention to seek the mandatory minimum but revoked it after Lee pleaded guilty to a single count of manslaughter.
The Herald Sun understands he agreed to plead guilty only after a deal struck with prosecutors guaranteed he wouldn’t face the mandatory minimum term.
Lee still faces a maximum of 20 years in jail.
The hearing continues.