Shaun McNeil jailed for one-punch kill of Sydney teenager

A 27-year-old Sydney man has been sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in jail for killing Sydney teenager Daniel Christie in a one-punch attack in 2013. Shaun McNeil, who will be eligible for parole in 2021, has been charged of manslaughter but is yet to be found guilty of murder.

Supreme Court Judge Justice Robert Allan Hulme declared that McNeil had violently punched Christie. He said Christie was an innocent young boy who had lesser physical strength than McNeil . "Daniel Christie was no match for him," Justice Hulme said.

Describing McNeil as coward, Hulme said that McNeil had ferociously punched Christie without even giving out a warning. "It is not as if violence is out of character for the offender," he added.

After the court hearing was over, Maureen Christie, Daniel Christie’s mother, spoke in public to the media for the first time. She said that the loss of a loved one was unacceptable to anyone and called the incident as brutal and unjustified.

She spoke on his son’s lovable nature and believed that he was entitled to so much more life.

"At just 18 our beautiful Daniel lost everybody and everything and there is not a sentence that any court could give that would equate to my family's loss,” she added.

Christie's father Michael Christie said that his son’s loss has left the family incomplete and which will haunt them for the rest of their lives. He also hopes that McNeil would rehabilitate.

"I would just hope the offender has as much courage as Daniel does to do the same thing so that his reoffending in the future doesn't become even more habitual than what it has been in the past,” he added.

He said his grief had become "all consuming" and his son's death had led to "pain, torment and [an] overwhelming feeling of loss.” Michael said he suffered from depression and "had thoughts of taking [his] own life.”

He also spoke on the ill effects of alcohol and how it can ruin lives, urging young people to come forward and talk about the dangers of alcohol.

On New Year’s Eve in 2013, McNeil was taken into the custody within hours after he attacked Christie, who was out celebrating the day with his brother Peter. It was found out that a fight broke out on streets between McNeil and a separate group of three teenagers who tried selling him the drug ecstasy.

During the fight, McNeil punched one of the teenagers who belonged to the group and then kicked him while he was lying on the ground. Seeing this, Christie tried to save the teenager, asking McNeil, "What's going on? What are you hitting a kid for?"

In response, McNeil punched Christie, who fell on the ground immediately and hit his head hard. He died in hospital 11 days after the attack.

McNeil was then arrested by the police, to whom he said that he mistook Christie as one of the teenagers of the group that had offered him drugs. Christie's death led to the intense debate over alcohol-fuelled violence in Sydney and eventually resulted in the introduction of new laws including early lockouts.

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