The death of up-and-coming MMA star Fau Vake has renewed calls for law reforms around coward punches.
Vake, 25, died on Sunday a week after he was injured in an alleged violent altercation on Auckland's Symonds Street.
Four men have been arrested and charged in relation to the attack - and now Vake has died, further charges are expected.
His death has reignited debate over how coward punches - where a person is punched in the head without warning - are charged in court.
At the moment, such attacks are sentenced on a case-by-case basis leading to a discrepancy in how attackers are sentenced.
Many people, including MMA champion Israel Adesanya, have called for law reform around such assaults. But in 2018 Parliament rejected a Bill that would have created a coward punch offence, saying the current law "gives courts appropriate options and allows for such acts to be appropriately prosecuted and punished".
Victims advocate Ruth Money told The AM Show on Monday the Bill, which would have seen offenders imprisoned for a maximum of 20 years if their victim died, should have at least made it to select committee.
"That private member's bill was voted down as a political game before the election - it should have gone to select committee and everyone should have had their say. Those MPs are public servants and they should have let this go through the process."
Money says changing the law won't fix the problem - but it would be a start.
"What it will do is denounce and deter that behaviour as part of a suit, like the education around family violence."
She says coward punches should "at a bare minimum" be an aggravating factor in sentencing, and that the current system means justice is a "raffle".
"It's a raffle what happens in court - it's a raffle as to what judge you get."
But Auckland District Law Society President Marie Dyhrberg says the law is fine as is - and change could lead to unintended consequences.
"Thirty-five years of experience tells me at the moment, the law is sound," she said.
"Using slang like 'coward punch' is not going to assist you in defining in any particular case, 'was that a sucker punch?' What determines that is in each case, what are the circumstances?"
She says if the law was changed there's a risk for miscarriage of justice.
"Judges objectively decide under all circumstances what is the right outcome for that case
Once you lose that, you lose the right to a fair trial, the rule of law and you cannot have mandatory sentences."
