‘We won’t grieve in silence’

Anyone wishing to make a complaint to the New Zealand Press Council should first put it in writing to the editor. If not satisfied with the reply, complainants should then write to The Secretary, NZ Press Council, Box 10-879, Wellington, including a clipping of the disputed article and copies of the correspondence. An online complaint form is available at The family of manslaughter victim Matthew Coley have spoken out about New Zealand’s problem with youth-related violence and alcohol.

Coley, 40, died in hospital after Tyrone Palmer, 16, punched him in the head outside an Invercargill Night ‘n Day store in the early hours of April 9.

Palmer, who admitted a charge of manslaughter, was sentenced to 22 months’ jail when he appeared in the High Court in Invercargill last week.

It later emerged he had consumed alcohol, the class A drug LSD and cannabis prior to the unprovoked attack.

But rather than grieve in silence, Coley’s family want to help generate discussion and help find some answers.

His mother, Laraine Coley, who lives on the Coromandel Peninsula, said it had been a horrendous four months for the family since her son’s death.

She was disturbed by the tender age of the teens, including Palmer, who confronted her son on the morning of his death.

Coley’s mother did not believe Palmer’s sentence was adequate, saying it sent out the wrong message to other youngsters.

‘‘If they get light sentences, how does that affect their psyche?’’

During sentencing, it was revealed Palmer had been ‘‘spoiling for some sort of confrontation’’ on the morning of the attack.

Coley, who had not been confrontational and had his hands by his sides, was intoxicated, vulnerable and surrounded by Palmer and his associates when he was fatally punched in the head once by Palmer.

‘‘I can’t see how he [Palmer] can rehab in one year,’’ Coley’s mother said.

‘‘In a year he is only 18 or 19 and walking free and I have lost my son forever. Something doesn’t ring true with me, that’s how I am feeling.’’

She did not pretend to have the answers to solving the problems of youth-related alcohol and violence, but was willing to try.

‘‘I don’t know the answers but we now live in an age where you aren’t even allowed to smack your children. There seems to be a lot of discipline gone.

‘‘We have to really look at what’s happening here in New Zealand,’’ she said.

‘‘I am not just talking about Invercargill. Matt happened to be in Invercargill, but it [youth related violence] is happening everywhere.’’

During Palmer’s sentencing in Invercargill, several people had approached her with looks of shock on their faces, she said.

‘‘I am getting that reaction … there’s a lot of people saying, what’s going on,’’ she said.

‘‘This isn’t about attacking Tyrone Palmer. It’s about addressing what’s happening in New Zealand. It’s just too much.’’

Her son, who was raised at Pauanui and had travelled around New Zealand working as a chef for years, was making Invercargill his home before his tragic death.

‘‘He called it Invers, he really liked it,’’ she said.

‘‘He was planning to settle down in Invercargill and we were working on how to help him get a kickstart to do that.’’

A keen surfer, he had been in the south for about three years and was planning on opening up his own surfboard shop in Invercargill.

Her son, a keen writer, was a loner and a quiet man, she said.

‘‘He liked heavy discussions … he would intellectualise a lot.’’