‘He never saw it coming’: Families of ‘one punch’ victims seek tougher measures

A public awareness campaign similar to a successful “coward punch” campaign in Australia should be introduced to address the issue of unprovoked assaults, an Oireachtas committee has been told.

Ireland is letting down a generation of young men by allowing the online glorification of violence to go unchallenged, said Bryan Gallagher, whose 26-year-old brother Cian died after he was punched by a stranger in Tallow, Co Waterford, in November 2022.

He was giving evidence on Tuesday to the Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, which is preparing a report on the issue of unprovoked or “one-punch” assaults, and how those convicted of such crimes are treated in the courts.

“To hear that the man responsible for killing your son and brother boasted about what he had done and compared himself to a well-known Irish mixed martial arts fighter sums up the fundamental issue with unprovoked violence, and gives weight to the very complex issue of the definition of masculinity and the role models men are facing in Irish society,” Gallagher said.

On the night his brother was left lying “on the cold, wet ground”, three young men had stopped to help him, he said.

“They did not walk past. They did not take out their phones, video it and post it online. They showed integrity, compassion and they protected Cian.”

“Those three young men are genuine role models to all men young and old across this country. Yet their names and actions will never be shared millions of times or glorified on social media,” Gallagher said.

“We need to ask ourselves, who do we want as role models for our young men in Ireland?”

Unprovoked violence, he said, was not confined to any one group or social background. Young men from vulnerable backgrounds should not be made scapegoats, as unprovoked assaults were carried out by men of all ages and backgrounds.

Gallagher co-founded a campaign group called Walkaway, Siúil Leat, with Sharon Lynn, whose only sibling, Martin, died three days after being assaulted in Whitehall, Dublin, in July 2023. The group is calling for a public awareness campaign, improved collection of relevant data and greater supports for victims’ families in the courts system.

Lynn, who also addressed the committee, said her brother had come home in a taxi after a night out when he was assaulted outside his home by a man who got off his motorcycle because he thought the taxi had obstructed him.

The man “approached Martin in a rage and punched him, knocking him to the ground. Martin’s hands were in his pockets. He never saw it coming,” she said.

Her family was “devastated” over the sentence her brother’s killer received, which meant he would only serve four years in prison.

She said she would like to see greater consistency in sentencing decisions, greater transparency and stronger recognition of victims’ families within the justice system.

The families should be entitled to access the transcripts of court sentencing decisions, she said.

In her brother’s case, she had been so “overwhelmed” over what happened at the sentencing hearing that she could not recall what the judge said, and yet was told she was not entitled to see the transcript.

Gallagher said changes in the language used to describe unprovoked violence should be part of a public awareness campaign. Such campaigns had been successful in other jurisdictions. “There is no need to reinvent the wheel.”

Reena Sarkar, an academic at Monash University, Australia, told the committee that, in Australia, changing the language around unprovoked assaults had a significant impact. “Nobody wanted to glorify the behaviour.”