Coward punch toll dropping – study
MORE than 170 Australians have died from coward punch assaults since the year 2000 and new world-first research has found many of these senseless acts of violence are not happening where most of us think.
The research conducted by the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine took an indepth look into coward punches in Australia between 2012-2018 and found while yearly deaths had declined, they were increasingly happening in domestic settings, instead of pubs and clubs, with victims getting older.
Recorded coward punch deaths decreased by more than 50 per cent, from 14 in
2012 to six in 2018 (82 in total) with the average age rising from 33 in 2000-2012 to 44 in recent years.
More than two thirds (70 per cent) of fatal coward punch attacks took place in settings not involving alcohol use – including homes, train stations and footpaths.
Head of the Drug Intelligence Unit at the VIFM, Associate Professor Jennifer Schumann, said research indicated coward punch messaging had been working to reduce deaths in young people and places where alcohol was served, but now more had to be done to target domestic settings.
“We’ve seen a drop of about 10 per cent in the number of deaths that involve alcohol,”
Prof Schumann said. “And we’ve seen a very big decrease in the number of one-punch fatalities occurring at pubs and clubs and other licensed venues, so it really demonstrates that the message is getting out there.
“Of course, we still need to do more. We’ve seen an increase in the number of onepunch deaths occurring in the home and during the weekdays, and initially we thought this might have been due to an increase in family violence, but actually none of the assaults involved intimate partners.
“It was more often friends or housemates or neighbours as the perpetrator.”
Prof Schumann added: “Given we’re coming out of
lockdowns and restrictions from Covid across Australia, we know from international evidence that has coincided with an increase in assaults, both in the domestic and social settings. We’ve also seen a big increase in alcohol consumption throughout the last two years.
“So because of that association we’ve seen with alcohol and these one-punch assaults, it’s something we really need to closely monitor.”
Stop the Coward Punch Campaign founder and world champion boxer Danny Green said the findings would help direct resources in education and awareness campaigns.
“While it is very pleasing the numbers have fallen, they are still happening, and one
death is one too many,” Green said. “A coward punch assault causes significant lifelong injuries both physically and mentally so the need for awareness and education to change behaviour is essential.”
During 2017 Schoolies week, Kiwi Caleb Maraku coward punched NSW tourist Taliesin O’Meara in Surfers Paradise, knocking him out cold in a shot caught on camera. He pleaded guilty, receiving 12 months’ probation.
Mr O’Meara’s mother addressed Maraku directly on Facebook at the time, writing: “I hope you never get a message from your child’s best friend in the early hours of the morning saying they’ve been king hit and are in a bad way.”