Keiran Loveridge, the man responsible for the tragic death of 18-year-old Thomas Kelly after he king-hit the teenager in Kings Cross in July 2012, has been sentenced to serve at least four of a maximum six years for manslaughter (plus another 18 months for four other assaults he committed on the same night) at a Supreme Court hearing held Friday afternoon in Sydney.
According to The ABC, Loveridge, who openly wept in court when Kelly’s parents read aloud their victim’s statements, will be eligible for parole in November 2017 having served five years and two months of his sentence.
Presiding Justice Stephen Campbell told the court that he took into consideration both the victim impact statements read by Thomas Kelly’s parents, from which he gleaned “the impression that Thomas must have been a wonderful young man full of promise for the future and of whom his parents were justly proud.” Justice Campbell added that Loveridge, “for reasons of drunkenness, was unable or unwilling to control his aggressive urges”; he observed also that Loveridge demonstrated sincere remorse over his actions and deduced that “the offender is very unlikely to re-offend.”
“I have the very distinct impression that from the tragic consequences his offending has brought about, he has well and truly learnt his lesson,” noted Justice Campbell.
“I find that the combination of the offender’s youth, remorse, prospects of rehabilitation and the need to structure sentences for multiple offences constitute special circumstances.”
Speaking outside the court, father Ralph Kelly expressed his complete shock at Justice Stephen Campbell’s decision, saying “We have spent the last hour in court listening to the verdict which supports the offender and leaves us as the victim’s family completely cold, shocked, and just beyond belief that the sentence was just so lenient. It’s time that this state, that Barry O’Farrell, finally did something about alcohol-fuelled violence to make a difference, to make us all safe so that we don’t have to see these situations continuously happening in the city.”
Mother Kathy Kelly echoed her husbands disbelief, telling assembled media, “We’re horrified. Absolutely horrified. How many boys or how many of our children have to die before somebody does something to change these laws to make people accountable for what they do?
Somebody else will be standing here in a few months or a year’s time like we are and be heartbroken. Four years for your son’s life.”
The Attorney-General of NSW, Greg Smith, revealed that he has asked the Director of Public Prosecutions to review the sentence.
via The ABC
