Tyson Armstrong jailed for 10 years after Crown Casino food court coward punch attack on Luke Francis

A coward punch killer will spend a decade behind bars for an “alcohol fuelled, entirely senseless” attack on a man at the Crown Casino food court.

Luke Francis’s coward punch killer was jailed for 10 years over the “senseless” act. Picture: Nicki Connolly

The family of Luke Francis has been left “absolutely gutted” after his coward punch killer was jailed for 10 years, as the beloved tradie’s girlfriend spoke of the trauma of watching him die.

Tyson Armstrong, 28, was sentenced to a decade behind bars with a minimum of eight years for the “cowardly, alcohol fuelled and entirely senseless” attack in the Crown Casino food court in March, 2022.

The Geelong father-of-three followed Luke, 29, after the two spoke for a brief five seconds in the game room, then pushed and punched him from behind as he walked away.

With time served, Armstrong, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter, could be out on parole by December 2030.

Describing his actions as those of a “violent and drunken thug”, Justice Andrew Tinney said Armstrong had “launched a violent, cowardly and unforgivable attack” on an innocent man enjoying a night out with his girlfriend, Tessa Penberthy.

Luke Francis’s sister Emily and mum Michelle were “absolutely gutted” with the sentence. Picture: Nicki Connolly

Outside the Supreme Court on Friday, Ms Penberthy — who had tried to pull Armstrong off the concreter during the 13-second fatal attack — said that “10 years is nothing”.

“He’ll get out at 37 — he’s got a family, he’s got kids, he took that away from Luke, he didn’t get a chance to have a family or a future and it just doesn’t touch walls,” she said of the sentence.

Ms Penberthy labelled Armstrong’s violence as “just so unnecessary” and said “Luke didn’t want any part of it” as the couple were heading home to Mordialloc from Crown Casino.

“To have to live with the trauma of that itself, I don’t want anyone else to go through it, no family needs to go through it,” she said.

“It just needs to set a precedent for this coward’s punch, it’s not on and it really needs to stop and I hope it speaks to the community that it’s a problem – violence and alcohol is a problem and something needs to be done.”

Family and supporters of Luke Francis. Picture: Nicki Connolly

Luke’s mum Michelle Harris said she was “just gutted, absolutely gutted” by his killer’s sentence, describing her son as “an amazing young man”.

“I think that’s what sickens me the most is the way he was taken out by a coward, doing nothing,” she said.

“Armstrong’s just nothing but a coward who likes to hit from behind and that makes me sick, sickens me.”

Ms Harris said she’d hoped for a 15-year jail sentence and said she was “a little bit let down”.

“I suppose the main thing is he’s in jail but it’s just not enough, it’s absolutely not enough,” she said.

Luke was coward punched at Crown Casino in March last year. Picture: Nicki Connolly

Her daughter Emily Harris said Armstrong had “taken the heart” of their family.

Armstrong sat with his head bowed and leg shaking as Justice Tinney read out his sentence, and appeared expressionless when he stood to learn his fate.

His Honour accepted he was now remorseful for what he’d done, despite lying to the police and a psychologist in a bid to justify his inexcusable violence.

Those lies were highlighted in his police interview just 12 hours after the attack, where he was seen crying and shaking and claiming Luke had “offered” to fight him outside.

His Honour said that Armstrong’s cowardly attack highlighted “the fragility of human life”, with coward attacks becoming “worryingly prevalent in our society”.

“For many years, it has been apparent that precisely the type of violent crime you carried out in this case has been a growing concern in our community and has become an all too common occurrence,” Justice Tinney said.