奪命一拳之三

King-hit deaths prompt new law push

''One-punch'' assaults have claimed 90 Australian lives since 2000, mostly in booze-fuelled bashings, a new study has found.

The victims were killed either by a single blow to the head or when falling and smashing their heads against the hard ground after being knocked unconscious.The findings have intensified calls for Victoria to adopt tough king-hit laws, despite resistance from the state government.

Jennifer Pilgrim, a researcher at Monash University's Department of Forensic Medicine, said alcohol was involved in almost three-quarters of deaths recorded between 2000 and 2012. Dr Pilgrim said most of the victims were knocked unconscious when they were at a licensed venue, outside the venue or on their way home from the venue.

In more than a third of killings, the deceased and the attacker did not know each other.

''There was a brief altercation with someone they just met five minutes ago,'' Dr Pilgrim said.

''One person throws a punch. A person goes down, hits their head and never again regains consciousness.''

NSW had the highest number of king-hits (28), followed by Victoria and Queensland (24 cases each).

Recently, the NSW government joined Western Australia and the Northern Territory in pursuing one-punch laws.

The move came after widespread public disgust at the four-year minimum sentence given to the killer of 18-year-old Thomas Kelly, who was king-hit by a young man on a Kings Cross bashing spree.

But Victoria's Attorney-General Robert Clark said the government had no plans for change because existing dangerous-act manslaughter laws already carried a penalty of up to 20 years in jail.

Despite the government's opposition, Victorian families of king-hit victims are calling for immediate law reform to ensure hefty prison sentences for offenders.

They will rally at Manningham City Square on December 15 to demand that judges be allowed to hand down the maximum 20-year sentence for manslaughter in king-hit cases.

''STOP. One Punch Can Kill'' rally organiser Michelle Kleinert is close friends with a family devastated by an alleged king-hit.

Ms Kleinert said two years spent in prison did not equate to a life taken, yet some young people seemed to have an attitude that ''if you do something and someone dies, you'll get a couple of years and we'll get a tattoo in jail''.

''We need to start educating people that are coming up because I think the culture of king-hits is strengthening,'' she said.

Last weekend, three people in Queensland were charged with murder over the alleged king-hit and bashing of a man, 45, outside a Maroochydore kebab shop.

Missing from the 90 deaths listed in the coroner's study are recent suspected one-punch deaths yet to be finalised in the courts.

Among the incidents not listed is the alleged manslaughter of David Cassai, 22, while he was on his way home from the Portsea Hotel last New Year's Eve.

More than 40 per cent of fatal punches happened between midnight and 6am, according to the latest data.

Victoria Police Superintendent Rod Wilson said he had observed problems when patrons ''hit the air'' outside after leaving bars.

Superintendent Wilson said it was the responsibility of venue operators to make sure partygoers were consuming alcohol responsibly and screening patrons before they were let in. ''You've got to talk to people. It's not good enough to look at them and say 'come in','' he said.

NSW Police Superintendent Pat Paroz said perpetrators had only themselves to blame.

''It is not 'normal to get intoxicated and then beat someone up, and we shouldn't accept that because a person was intoxicated it somehow reduces their level of accountability for their actions,'' Superintendent Paroz said.

St Vincent Hospital's emergency department director Gordian Fulde said he treated four or five ''absolutely obvious'' king-hits while working at the Sydney hospital each Friday and Saturday night.

Professor Fulde is a supporter of a move to force pubs and clubs to close earlier, with experts pointing to evidence that bringing forward closing times to 3am reduces assaults by more than 30 per cent.
(2.12.2012 Sydney Morning Herald)

先前寫了奪命一拳 及奪命一拳之二兩篇，反對因奪命拳特別立法，因為以特别立法來解決問題觀念錯誤，正確做法是拿一件判刑過輕的案來上訴，要求上訴庭定立判刑指引，把受酒精影響下犯案視為加刑因素，假如另外立法之後，法庭判刑照舊以一般量刑因素來考慮，到時這種立法也不見得有意義。這類案大部份會控以謀殺，最終接受承認誤殺，誤殺在此最高可判25年監，奪命拳案譲你訂下最高刑期與誤殺相若，也只不過給它改了個新名字，意義何在？以前講過論據，今不再贅。上文引述論文研究指出，幾乎4份3的奪命拳案都涉及酒精，屬酒後失理智鬧事，而並非手癢找人練拳。澳洲是產酒國，也是飲酒國，飲餐酒十分普遍，飲酒闖禍也極常見。上星期六南澳區域法院法官Justice Anne Bampton，駕車時血液酒精含量超標兩倍有多，撞倒騎單車的人，在現場即時被警方吊銷駕駛執照6個月，本來明日正式任命為高院法官，慶祝儀式即時取消，但沒有講因此不升官，首席法官只講Bampton以後不會聽審醉駕案。如果發生在香港，這法官還可以當下去？可見這裏飲酒的認受性很高，這種飲酒文化要改變談何容易，也沒有人想改變。

為一拳奪命來立法，不如針對醉酒行為，管束一下在公眾地方醉酒的人，而不要本末倒置，以為另立拳擊殺人的法律，一切迎刃而解，如果這様，有心去買醉的人會帶把刀去，喝醉鬧事，捅人幾刀，不用出拳，那又如何？