A single blow… but it’s still being felt

COMMENT
IT WAS just one punch.
One of thousands of similar blows dealt throughout Victoria each year – and sadly for the family and friends of Cameron Lowe, this one was fatal.
Maybe it was just another example of alcohol fuelled violence. Maybe just bad luck.
It was yet another example of the deadly cocktail of booze, anger and testosterone that rules our streets on a Saturday night. But at the heart of this case lies a shocking truth.
There was no reason for what happened.
How many times do we have to see the heartbroken families holding a photograph of their loved one’s beaming face before the message gets through?
How can we expect young men to stop these acts of violence if in the end they are only going to get a slap on the wrist?
There are two Pakenham families deeply affected by this mindless act of aggression, with both suffering mental and emotional anxiety.
If the attacker knew his own mother would be so affected, would he have just walked away?
Cameron’s mum was devastated to hear the defendant’s lawyer ask the judge to sentence his client to three years in a youth justice facility.
Cameron was the same age as his attacker at the time, noticeably smaller in frame and quietly spoken. When he was attacked his arms were crossed, and the defendant has agreed Cameron did nothing to deserve his death sentence.
To make matters worse, Cameron’s attacker did exactly the same thing to another teenager just eight days earlier. The first survived. Cameron was not so lucky.
If justice had been a little more fleet of foot after the first instance, might Cameron Lowe have been saved?
No plea to the judge will reduce Cameron’s family’s life sentence.
They’ll do the hard time of never again watching their son, brother, friend, nephew and grandson live, laugh and love.
He is gone. Forever.
Before the last State election Premier Ted Baillieu said he would introduce tougher penalties for crimes against the person. That time to act is now, Mr Baillieu.
Cameron’s killer may not have meant for him to die. But he still threw the punch.
Stopping this madness will take a community effort, community education, and a vast change in the way we teach and lead our young men. Such senseless acts of violence need to be stopped. At the moment, perhaps our best chance of doing that is to award a penalty that clearly demonstrates society’s contempt for these gutless acts.