Editorial: Fix the law on coward punch
THE Andrews Government needs to reform Victoria’s one-punch laws to ensure they are used in appropriate prosecutions.
Opinion
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THE Andrews Government needs to reform Victoria’s one-punch laws to ensure they are used in appropriate prosecutions.
We have now seen the first two cases result in the new mandatory 10-year one-punch sentence being withdrawn in place of conventional manslaughter charges with no mandatory minimum.
The legal reason for withdrawing the new one-punch charges in both cases has not been the mandatory aspect of sentencing but the standard to prove certain elements in the offence. If Victoria is to have effective laws that specifically denounce so-called coward punches — particularly alcohol-fuelled public violence where a blow is struck to the head of a victim — the current legislation needs to be modified.
Western Australia, New South Wales and Queensland all have one-punch laws. Only Victoria and NSW have the potential for mandatory minimums for the offence — 10 years and eight years respectively — although Queensland has a serious violent offender provision that can require 80 per cent of the maximum sentence to be served. Across all jurisdictions, the varying one-punch laws have attracted criticism from criminal defence lawyers and, in some cases, the wider legal fraternity, particularly regarding the mandatory provisions in Victoria and NSW.
But the rightful focus of any criminal sanctions for violence must be deterrence and just punishment.
The community view is that where criminal action leads to death, punishment must reflect the gravity of the offence and act to underline the sanctity of life. Coward-punch laws resulted after community anger over a series of tragic cases, highlighted with the unprovoked one-punch deaths in Sydney’s Kings Cross of Thomas Kelly, 18, in 2012 and Daniel Christie, also 18, on New Year’s Eve the following year.
In Victoria, the tragic deaths of Patrick Cronin, 19, last year and Jaiden Walker, 22, this year also saw the community recoil at the senseless, unprovoked and deadly violence. The killers in both cases await sentences for manslaughter after one-punch mandatory sentence applications were withdrawn.
In 2014, under the then Coalition government, Victoria’s Coward’s Punch Manslaughter and Other Matters amendment was adopted where section 4A specified a single punch or series of blows to the head or neck met the criteria for a dangerous act resulting in manslaughter. However, even if prosecutors call for the 10-year minimum available under the law, the sentencing judge must be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt the offender intended to strike the victim’s head or neck and the offender knew the victim was not expecting to be hit.
While the Director of Public Prosecutions decides the reasons to pursue or withdraw an application for the mandatory 10 years, it appears the subjective requirements that the offender targeted the victim’s head or knew the victim was not expecting to be hit have been problematic. Given the victim is deceased, the law relies too heavily on the assailant’s claimed view of the attack.
What is lost in the failure to date to successfully prosecute Victoria’s one-punch law is the intent of that legislation: one punch can kill and inflict permanent trauma on a victim’s family.
The community is sick of alcohol- or drug-fuelled violence. Parliament must revisit the law and make workable amendments that reflect that community abhorrence.
PIER FACELIFT FOR ST KILDA
VICTORIA hasn’t always made the most of its community and tourism assets.
Despite being among our most popular destinations, the Twelve Apostles, Loch Ard blowhole and the Shipwreck Coast have until recently not been the subject of sensitive development proposals.
In Melbourne, Flinders St station, the Station Pier precinct, the historic Queens Bridge rail line, Northbank, Jolimont railyards and the Yarra can all be better utilised and developed.
Plans and ideas kick around — Flinders St station is now undergoing a facelift and the Yarra pool idea has been raised again — but progress is slow.
Local icon the St Kilda Pier is currently the subject of rejuvenation plans with the potential for a swimming lagoon and improved boating facilities.
The famous pier kiosk, rebuilt to its original 1903 plans after being burned down in an arson attack in 2003, takes centre stage on the structure.
The local penguin colony is also a great feature.
But more can be done to ensure this much-loved piece of Melbourne develops further as a popular destination for locals and visitors.
Development of historic structures and natural assets must be balanced and designed to both protect and enliven.
While Melbourne doesn’t exactly have Sydney’s weather, a lagoon in the bay at St Kilda, in the fashion of the Bronte Baths or the Bondi Icebergs, would be well received — even if only by the brave in winter.
St Kilda has become a magnet for overseas tourists and value-adding to the pier is a welcome initiative.
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