Patrick Cronin’s one-punch killer ordered to pay compensation
Patrick Cronin’s parents says no amount of money will bring the young star footballer back after he was killed in a one-punch attack, but his killer has now been ordered to pay the grieving family almost $170,000 in compensation.
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Killer coward-puncher Andrew Lee has been ordered to pay his victim Patrick Cronin’s family almost $170,000 in compensation over his senseless death.
Supreme Court judge Lesley Taylor today found Patrick’s parents Matt and Robyn, and siblings Emma and Lucas, deserved the pay out for the psychiatric injuries they had suffered.
She set the figures at $70,000 for Patrick’s father Matt, $95,000 for his mother Robyn, and $30,000 each for his two siblings.
But, in deducting payments already received from Victims of Crime, Justice Taylor ruled Lee, who is serving a minimum five-year term over the 2016 pub brawl death, pay $56,562 to Mr Cronin, $59,410 to Mrs Cronin and $25,000 each to their surviving children.
Patrick’s parents, outside court, said no amount of money would bring their son back, but that they sought compensation as a “matter of principle”.
“Millions of dollars wouldn’t fix it,” Mrs Cronin, clutching one of Pat’s old teddies, said.
“We want the cowards that do this sort of stuff to learn they can’t do it — that they are going to be hurt on every level they can be.”
Mr Cronin added: “Today is three years, three months and 14 days since Pat was taken away from us by a coward.
“It’s always been about Pat for us. Pat was a good kid. He should still be here. He should be still playing footy for the Lower Plenty Football Club with his brother and us watching him.
“Perhaps someone, in that heat of the moment who thinks that this is the answer (puts his clenched fist up) to throw a punch, just maybe they will think ‘maybe I can lose my house, maybe my career’s ended’.”
The Cronins were critical of the judicial system and the time it takes for victims to seek justice — and all at their own expense.
“The system needs to change,” Mr Cronin said, adding that compensation orders should be granted at sentencing “without us funding it, without us having to walk through the metal detectors of the Supreme Court yet again”.
“We need to put victims at the centre, not as an afterthought,” he said.
The family will now continue focusing on the work of the foundation set up in Pat’s honour.
“The foundation’s here for forever,” Mr Cronin said. “Our aim is to end the coward punch. We’ve got to change attitudes.
“The more we do that in Pat’s memory, people in 20 years’ time are going to say ‘Pat Cronin, he was that kid who got things changed’ … and that’s what we want.”
The latest project for the foundation, he said, was working with the Victorian Curriculum Authority to get coward punch education programs embedded into the curriculum across all schools in Victoria.
“Once we’ve conquered Victoria, we’ll go to Australia,” Mr Cronin said.
Lee was jailed for a maximum eight-year term for killing Patrick, 19, with a single blow to the head during a melee at Windy Mile Pub in Diamond Creek on April 19, 2016.
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He pleaded guilty to manslaughter, but only after prosecutors agreed not to pursue a minimum mandatory 10-year term under new laws introduced in 2014 to curb a spate of coward-punch attacks.
An earlier court heard that each of the Cronin’s now suffered varying degrees of conditions including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic adjustment disorder.
Lee’s legal team had argued his compensation payout should be mitigated because of the work Mr Cronin had invested into The Pat Cronin Foundation in honour of his son to raise awareness about one-punch attacks.
But Frank Scully, representing the Cronins, told the court: “The establishment of that foundation does not diminish the grief that they experience.”
Lee also gave evidence about the state of his financial affairs, saying he had a significant amount of equity in a Diamond Creek property, which he could be forced to sell to pay the compensation.