CHARITY FOUNDED BY MUM OF ONE-PUNCH VICTIM OFFERS HELP
A grieving mum who lost her son following a one-punch attack said she hopes others won’t suffer in the same way as she appealed for Bank Holiday calm.
The One Punch North East charity was set up by Maxine ThompsonCurl following her beloved son Kristian’s death in 2011.
The mum hopes the organisation will go from strength to strength now it has been granted charitable status.
“It means everything to us,” she said of the charity she runs alongside husband Tony Curl.
“There is a huge gap that our charity is hopefully going to be able to fill.
ne Punch North East aims to offer support for victims of onepunch attacks and to educate and raise awareness of the damage a single punch can do.
Kristian died in July 2011, aged 19, some 10 months after being punched in the head on a night out in Consett, County Durham.
Maxine and husband Tony have visited dozens of schools to teach youngsters about the impact of drunken violence.
Maxine, 51, said: “On the one hand I want to educate people and raise awareness in the hope of ending these types of attacks.
“I also offer support to victims’ families. There’s a huge gap there, people don’t know where to turn to.
“It might only be a coffee and a chat, but it’s offering that support that people need in their time of need. Coming from someone who has been through it means so much to the families I work with, they can see there is a light at the end of the tunnel.”
Last year, the organisation took over a Sunderland city centre premises and Maxine hopes they can now access funding to offer a drop-in centre for families.
“The families who come to me are so stressed, they feel at a dead end with nowhere to go,” she said.
“I want to be able to offer them a safe space, some counselling and perhaps alternative therapies too.”
And Maxine added: “No family should have to go through what I have been through.
“Kristian was my whole world, the light of my life, he was just 18 when he was punched. My life is empty without him. “He is my drive, my passion is to raise awareness of what can happen from a single punch. So many lives can be ruined.”
Before Kristian died, Mark Berry, from Leadgate, near Consett, wass sentenced to 28 months in prisonn after he pleaded guilty to causingg grievous bodily harm at Durhamm Crown Court.
A second inquest into the teenager’s death last August concluded ann open verdict.
Maxine was left “shocked” after itt failed to link her son’s death to the attack.