In a moment of cowardly thuggery, 29-year-old thug Matthew O’Callaghan punched Ryan Parle in the head in an unprovoked attack.
Despite the CCTV footage capturing the sickening attack, on Friday Magistrate Bob Kumar sentenced O’Callaghan to just six months in prison for the shocking act of violence which knocked the Queenslander out cold.
O’Callaghan’s attack nearly cost Mr Parle his life, and to this day he is still in pain and suffers memory loss, the Herald Sun reports.
In a moment of cowardly thuggery 29-year-old thug Matthew O’Callaghan punched Ryan Parle in the head in an unprovoked attack
O’Callaghan’s lapse in judgement nearly cost Mr Parle his life who until this day is still in pain and suffers memory loss
CCTV footage on Chapel St breaks down the sequence of events from that evening.
Mr Parle and O’Callaghan exchange a short dialogue until one of O’Callaghan’s friends quickly moves toward the victim.
Without warning the thug then comes at Mr Parle from the side, smacking him in the head before falling into the concrete face-first.
He walks away leaving Mr Parle on the street motionless.
In his judgement Mr Kumar, who told the court a number of times he has served 32 years on the bench, said it was challenging to find the appropriate sentence for O’Callaghan because he had no prior convictions and was from a good background.
He sentenced O’Callaghan to a brief stretch in jail to be followed by an 18-month community corrections order.
Mr Kumar defended his judgment citing it may appear a tough penalty.
‘We won’t hand out a light sentence. It won’t happen,’ he said. ‘Imprisonment is appropriate and if I’m wrong, someone can put me right.’
On Friday Magistrate Bob Kumar sentenced O’Callaghan (pictured left) to only six months for the shocking act of violence which knocked the Queenslander out cold
Mr Parle said he was lucky to be alive in a victim impact statement read at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court.
Police prosecutor Leading Sen-Constable Tania Fox believed O’Callaghan had shown little remorse and claimed he was only identified as the offender after a social media campaign was initiated.
‘This is the exact type of unprovoked, one-punch violence that needs to be denounced,’ she said.