Vic man jailed over fatal NYE brawl
A thug who threw a coward's punch in a fatal brawl has been jailed for two years and three months.
Thomas Francis McCloskey-Sharp, 26, was one of three men who launched an unprovoked attack on David Cassai and his friends in Rye, on the Mornington Peninsula, in the early hours of December 31, 2012.
Mr Cassai suffered a fractured skull in the attack and died hours later.
Thomas McClusky-Sharp, involved in Rye brawl in which David Cassai was killed, has been jailed for 2yrs 3mths. Pregnant girlfriend bawling.
— Kate Jones (@Kate_Jones7) December 18, 2014
McCloskey-Sharp had pleaded guilty to punching Vasu Phillips, a friend of Mr Cassai's, in the head as he stood with his back turned.
Victorian Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth said McCloskey-Sharp had committed a cowardly crime.
"You hit him after you had indicated that you were no threat to him.
"He would have had no idea what was coming and was therefore unable to defend himself in any way.
"It was a very cowardly act."
She said the courts must send a message to the community that street violence will be punished with a prison term.
"Un-premeditated violence may be brief, but it can have profound and enduring consequences for all involved, as it has done in this instance."
Seven News court reporter Kate Jones tweeted that Mc-Closkey-Sharp's pregnant girlfriend broke down as the sentence was handed down.
Mr Cassai's mother, Caterina Politi, criticised the courts for being out of step with public sentiment on alcohol-fuelled violence.
"They think it's a great sentence but it doesn't send a message," she said outside court.
"I think our (anti-violence) campaign has, and other campaigns around Victoria and Australia have. But they (courts) haven't caught up."
"He can be visited in jail, we have to visit David at the cemetery."
McCloskey-Sharp was serving a suspended jail sentence when he attacked Mr Phillips. He has a history of violence and had previously escaped from prison.
He was convicted of assault in 2009 for repeatedly striking a man with a metal pole in an unprovoked attack.
He also faced court in 2007 for recklessly causing injury and criminal damage but avoided conviction.
McCloskey-Sharp, along with co-accused Dylan Closter and Tyrone Steven Russell, attacked Mr Cassai's group as they walked home from a birthday party on the Mornington Peninsula.
McCloskey-Sharp, of Kilsyth, pleaded guilty to recklessly causing injury and affray.
Closter, 20, of Launching Place, was jailed for nine years and three months with a minimum of six years for Mr Cassai's manslaughter.
Russell, 23, from Perth, was jailed for three years with a 17-month minimum for his role in the brawl.
McCloskey-Sharp must serve a minimum of 17 months in jail.
