Bruce McDougall,Peter Bodkin
The Daily Telegraph
January 2,2014
IT is extremely painful that once again we are reporting on a young man who has suffered severe head injuries from a king-hit punch during a night of celebration on the town.
As the latest unsuspecting victim - a teenager from Sydney's north - fights for his life in hospital, we can only imagine what suffering his family and those close to him are enduring.
These images are a glimpse into myriad lives that have been ruined and their families consigned to months and years of misery because of a single moment of madness. It is impossible to find reasons why such devastation should be inflicted and there is no silver bullet solution to ensure it never happens again.
ACCUSED KING-HITTER A GYM JUNKIE INTO SELFIES
KINGS CROSS STREET THAT HAS SEEN VIOLENCE BEFORE
TIME TO END THE STUPID CARNAGE ON OUR STREETS
TIM PRIEST: ENOUGH WITH THESE SLAPS ON THE WRIST
EDITORIAL: TAKE THE VIOLENT THUGS OFF OUR STREETS
But the photos give us cause to reflect on what we can do as a society to reduce the scourge of mindless violence that is wrecking so many Australian families and affecting those in the wider community whose job it is to pick up the pieces.
The fallout has a ripple effect and includes the nurses, doctors and hospital staff who turn up for work in a state of anxiety expecting that at some point in their shift they will be called on to treat victims of senseless and unnecessary violence.
Now it is time to say enough is enough, and take action to stop the violence on our streets and prevent any more young lives from being needlessly destroyed.
This New Year's Eve yet another young life was damaged, another family left devastated by another senseless act of violence driven at least in part by alcohol. The fact it happened in Victoria St, Kings Cross, only metres from the spot where another teen, Thomas Kelly, was attacked 18 months ago and after all the warnings of the dangers is simply awful.
Thomas died after he was king-hit by another young man while walking down Victoria St, the 18-year-old's head slamming into the concrete after the unprovoked attack. Just a week later Kelvin Kane, a 50-year-old cattle farmer from Kingscliff on the state's far north coast, died when allegedly king-hit outside a pub.
Michael McEwen, 23, survived but spent a week in an induced coma after he was punched and stomped on at Bondi Beach in the early hours of December 14. Michael's dad says his son was close to becoming "the next Thomas Kelly".
Triage nurses - those first to treat victims when they arrive at hospital bleeding or having lost consciousness from a fight - now use "king hit" as a description.
St Vincent's emergency department director Dr Gordian Fulde has no doubt alcohol is a factor in many of the assaults. "It is devastating in all directions - even for the staff in the emergency department or intensive care units - when a young life is wasted," Dr Fulde says.
"You can't be human to not be affected by it. The single punch and bloody nose are less common now while there are more Thomas Kelly king-hits in which brains are really injured and people die.
"They are tragedies that are totally unnecessary and totally preventable if someone hadn't got drunk and been in the wrong spot at the wrong time."
He believes the message is getting through to some and that police presence on the streets is making a difference.
But he says some people have become more violent and "animalistically violent" when they get drunk. "There is no reason for it - it's not a robbery or something between two groups that hate each other," he says.
"We have cleaners leaving work at night and they get bashed up for no reason. The community now has got to become upset about this. We should all pull together and say enough is enough."
He says a curb on the availability of alcohol after 3am and an extension to Sydney's danger spots of the trial that reduced violence in Newcastle must be considered
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