By SAMMY JULIAN
Manila News Bureau Chief
MANILA – The 21-year-old Australian accused of ending the life of a Sydney-based Filipino nursing graduate with a single punch in the face is the first person to be charged under the New South Wales’ one-punch legislation.
Reports coming out of Australia identified the victim as 21-year-old Raynor Tristan Castillo Manalad.
Police said Manalad, who recently graduated from nursing at the Australian Catholic University, was knocked unconscious with a single punch from Hugh Bacalla Garth of Blacktown.
The victim was apparently trying to intervene in a fight between Garth and his girlfriend during a party in Minchinbury, a suburb in western Sydney in the state of New South Wales when he was struck by the suspect.
Manalad was rushed to Westmead Hospital but died later.
During a brief court appearance at the Blacktown Local Court last week, Garth became the first person in New South Wales to be charged under the so-called one-punch legislation.
It is the first time the legislation has been used since it was introduced by the state government earlier this year.
Under the legislation, offenders who throw a fatal punch while intoxicated will spend a minimum of eight years behind bars./PN
