Parents of Thomas Kelly 'absolutely horrified' at sentence for king-hit killer Kieran Loveridge

Updated

Thomas Kelly's parents say they are "completely shocked" at the sentence handed down to the man who fatally punched the 18-year-old in Sydney's Kings Cross.

Kieran Loveridge was today jailed for at least four years for manslaughter, with a maximum of six years.

The 19-year-old randomly punched Mr Kelly in the head in July last year as he walked with his girlfriend and spoke on his mobile phone in the nightclub precinct.

The single punch knocked Mr Kelly to the ground and he died from head injuries in St Vincent's Hospital two days later.

In the Supreme Court in Sydney today, Loveridge was sentenced to a maximum of six years in jail for manslaughter plus another 18 months for four other assaults he committed on the same night.

Loveridge will be eligible for parole in November 2017 after serving five years and two months in prison.

The combined maximum sentence for the manslaughter and assaults is seven years and two months.

Speaking outside court, Mr Kelly's father Ralph Kelly was clearly shocked.

"We have spent the last hour in court listening to the verdict which supports the offender and leaves us as the victim's family completely cold, shocked, and just beyond belief that the sentence was just so lenient," he said.

"It's time that this state, that Barry O'Farrell, finally did something about alcohol-fuelled violence to make a difference, to make us all safe so that we don't have to see these situations continuously happening in the city."

His wife Kathy Kelly also condemned the verdict.

"We're horrified. Absolutely horrified," she said.

"How many boys or how many of our children have to die before somebody does something to change these laws to make people accountable for what they do?

"Somebody else will be standing here in a few months or a year's time like we are and be heartbroken. Four years for your son's life."

Justice Stephen Campbell told the court he had carefully considered the victim impact statements from Mr Kelly's family.

"From them I have formed the impression that Thomas must have been a wonderful young man full of promise for the future and of whom his parents were justly proud," he said.

He said Loveridge, for reasons of drunkenness, was unable or unwilling to control his aggressive urges.

Justice Campbell noted that Loveridge wept in court when the Kelly family read out their victim impact statements last month, which he said he took as a sincere expression of remorse.

"In my judgment the offender is very unlikely to re-offend. I have the very distinct impression that from the tragic consequences his offending has brought about, he has well and truly learnt his lesson," he said.

"I find that the combination of the offender's youth, remorse, prospects of rehabilitation and the need to structure sentences for multiple offences constitute special circumstances."

Attorney-General pushes for sentence appeal

New South Wales Attorney-General Greg Smith quickly announced he would ask the Director of Public Prosecutions to appeal against the sentence.

"Thomas Kelly was the victim of an unprovoked attack and I have great sympathy for his family who are devastated by their loss," Mr Smith said in a statement.

"Drunken assaults are a terrible scourge and every weekend we hear about attacks by intoxicated, irresponsible people on bystanders who are lucky to escape with their life.

"I have contacted the Director of Public Prosecutions and asked him to review the sentence handed down today to Kieran Loveridge and consider if there are grounds for an appeal."

Topics: murder-and-manslaughter, courts-and-trials, kings-cross-2011

First posted