An Irish tourist man who put his brother into coma and himself into trouble while on a night out in Sydney’s Kings Cross has avoided jail time. The two Irish brothers were filmed on CCTV arguing inside Hugo's Bar in Kings Cross in the early hours of January 3 this year, with Barry Lyttle, 33, punching his brother Patrick Lyttle, 31, once in his head, causing him fall and hit the pavement. After a week-coma, Patrick Lyttle spent a months in St Vincent’s Hospital but has made a full recovery. Considering his sincere remorse and unlikeliness to reoffend, Downing Centre Local Court gave Barry a 13-month suspended sentence and a good behaviour bond. He was not charged under new one-punch law effective in NSW, which have mandatory sentences for alcohol fuelled assaults as it was confirmed he had only a small amount of alcohol in his blood.
Sitting together with their father, the brothers hugged and cried when the verdict was read out. According to a 2013 study from Monash University in Melbourne, one-punch attacks also known in Australia as "king hit" and "coward's punch” cost 90 Australian lives in 2000-2012, most in booze-fuelled bashings.
