Matt Cronin joins call for overhaul of Victoria’s ‘brutal’ court process

The father of coward-punch victim Pat Cronin has recalled how his son’s killer was told to “delay, delay, delay” court proceedings to win a discount from a judge, as he backed an overhaul of Victoria’s “brutal” judicial system.

Matt and Robyn Cronin with a picture of their son, Pat. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

The father of one-punch victim Pat Cronin has backed calls for an overhaul of the “brutal” court process as he recalled how his son’s killer got legal advice to “delay, delay, delay” for less jail time.

Matt Cronin said he’s been fighting for five years for victims’ families to get access to an advocate that would help them through the traumatic judicial process, but was ignored by the government.

So too were his calls to fix the coward punch laws that have been in place for a decade, but have only been used once.

“(To get change) it’s not going to take a judge’s son to be killed, it’s going to take a politician’s son to be killed,” said Mr Cronin, whose boy Pat, 19, died from a punch thrown by Andrew Lee outside a Diamond Creek pub in 2016.

Coward punch killer outside court.

Mr Cronin’s long-term bid for a victims’ advocate was repeated among 55 recommendations handed down by Victims of Crime Commissioner Fiona McCormack on Monday as she seeks urgent change to reduce judicial trauma.

Her 516-page inquiry report ‘Silenced and Sidelined’ — to be tabled in parliament this week — details the horror court experiences of victims and their families, leading to half of victims questioning whether they’d ever report another crime.

Recommendations for change include an amendment to the Human Rights Charter to protect victims from unnecessary court delays, and to abolish committal hearings.

Mr Cronin, whose family went through seven years of criminal and civil court cases, said the courts should “get rid of committals”, which test the evidence against an accused before they’re sent for trial.

He recalled that when Lee got his committal hearing pushed back, he overheard a disturbing conversation between his son’s killer and his defence lawyer.

“I overheard the defence say to the killer and his family, ‘The best thing we can do is delay, delay, delay, then we can tell the court (at sentence) this has been hanging over your head and it’s a mitigating circumstance’,” Mr Cronin recalled.

Pat Cronin (left) with his brother Lucas. Picture: Supplied

The Cronins have supported scrapping committals since 2020, when the Victorian Law Reform Commission recommended they be abolished.

It comes as the Cronins will on Wednesday launch a new documentary ‘From the Foundation Up’ about their battle for justice, which features behind the scenes footage of their judicial experience.

“We found our journey through the legal process to be nothing short of brutal,” Mr Cronin said.

He said there was “nothing good” about the process, which needed to be “more victim centric”.

“We’ve been talking about this for too long, it’s time for action.”

In response to the Commissioner’s scathing report, Minister Gabrielle Williams said the system could be “really challenging” and noted the Attorney-General would make further comments this week.

“It will be considered, its recommendations will be considered and we’ll have more to say about that in due course once it’s gone through that formal process,” she said.

‘From the Foundation Up’ will be screened at Balwyn’s Palace Cinema at 7pm on Wednesday.

For tickets go to www.facebook.com/patcroninfoundation.