Freedom for club attacker
One-punch victim will ‘always be scarred’
IT WAS the early hours of a Sunday morning when Peter Glenn Howlett followed a young man leaving a Hobart nightclub, yelled “oi”, then delivered an almighty blow to his face.
The victim was left in agony with his jaw broken on both sides as Howlett walked away.
Now, after a year behind bars, Howlett has been released from jail, despite his victim’s fears, on the proviso he doesn’t try to contact him.
The September 2016 attack took place outside the Executive Building after a brief interaction in line outside the Lower House night spot in Despard Street.
It was condemned by sentencing judge Stephen Estcourt as an example of the
“vicious and unprovoked” one-punch phenomenon.
Justice Estcourt said Howlett, who was found guilty by a jury of causing grievous bodily harm, showed “no remorse whatsoever” and a total disregard for his victim.
He was jailed for two years, with 12 months non-parole, with the judge noting he needed to hand down a sentence that would “assuage public outrage” over the one-punch attack and deter others from similar alcohol-fuelled violence.
The victim, who suffered post traumatic stress disorderlike symptoms and said he would “always be scarred”, provided a statement to the Parole Board of Tasmania before its decision to release his attacker.
“The board has particularly noted that the victim continues to labour under the psychological effects of the offending behaviour,” it said.
“The prospect of the applicant’s release under a parole order is, understandably, likely to heighten his concerns.”
But the board said Howlett had good supportive networks of family, friends and employment opportunities, which were protective factors that ought to “dissuade him from offending again”.
Howlett, who was released on May 19 this year, had achieved a medium security classification while at Risdon Prison and had worked as a general hand in the vegetable shed.
The board said in November 2019, Howlett was involved in drug trafficking with another prisoner, but had not committed any other offences.