Surgeon’s one-punch killer given 10 years

A man who attacked a heart surgeon, who voiced concerns about people smoking outside a hospital, has been sentenced.

Joseph Esmaili arriving at the Victorian Supreme court.

A one-punch killer who attacked a Melbourne heart surgeon, who voiced concerns about people smoking outside a hospital, will spend at least 10 years in prison.

Joseph Esmaili, 24, yesterday became the first Victorian to be sentenced under the state’s one-punch laws, introduced in 2014, after being convicted of the 2017 manslaughter of surgeon Patrick Pritzwald-Stegmann.

Supreme Court judge Elizabeth Hollingworth yesterday sentenced Esmaili to 10½ years in prison. He can apply for parole after serving 10 years.

Outside court, Pritzwald-Stegmann’s widow, Christine Baumberg, said their twin daughters were just five when their father died, and he should never have been attacked.

“Patrick was brutally and ­fatally assaulted protecting Box Hill Hospital patients, visitors and colleagues,” she said. “He should have been safe at work.”

Pritzwald-Stegmann, 41, saw Esmaili with a group of others outside the Box Hill Hospital on May 30, 2017.

He approached the group to tell one of the men that they shouldn’t be smoking there, and that security would be notified.

Another member of the group told him to “f..k off”, and Pritzwald-Stegmann walked back inside to tell staff to call security.

Esmaili then repeatedly swore at the surgeon, who complained that he had spat on him, before he confronted the medico.

Heart surgeon Dr Patrick Pritzwald-Stegmann.

“Shortly after putting his bag down, (Pritzwald-Stegmann) put his right arm out in your direction, in a defensive gesture that seemed to be trying to stop you from standing too close to him,” Justice Hollingworth told Esmaili as he was sentenced.

“You looked and gestured with your right arm in the direction of the toilets, and then put both your hands behind your back. Suddenly, and without warning, you pulled your right hand out from behind your back, and punched him with a clenched fist to the head. You hit him with sufficient force to knock him unconscious. He fell straight to the floor, without any attempt to break his fall.”

Justice Hollingworth said the surgeon suffered catastrophic brain injuries when his head hit the floor, which led to his death a month later.

Esmaili ran from the hospital as doctors rushed to save the surgeon, whom Justice Hollingworth said was “one of the relatively small number of cardiothoracic surgeons in Australia”.

Esmaili was later diagnosed as having a personality disorder, as well as a severe substance abuse disorder for alcohol, opioids and cannabis — although there was no evidence that he appeared “substance-affected” at the time of the attack.

Justice Hollingworth said while Esmaili had displayed “some remorse” — particularly during a police interview — his demeanour in the witness box at trial “was quite different”.

“You repeatedly and adamantly blamed Mr Pritzwald-Stegmann for what happened, in the course of saying you were only acting in self-defence,” she said.

He had killed Mr Pritzwald-Stegmann while on bail over theft and property charges, and has a record of more than 40 offences in Victoria and four minor offences in Western Australia.