Kieran Loveridge, the man convicted of manslaughter over the 2012 one-punch killing of 18-year-old Thomas Kelly, has been granted parole.
Loveridge will be released from custody later this month after a decision this morning by the NSW State Parole Authority.
Neither the state nor Kelly’s parents opposed granting parole to Loveridge, while the Serious Offenders Review Council and Community Correction both supported it.
“Every effort should be made to ensure that (Loveridge) undertakes a period of supervision well before the expiration of his sentence in an attempt to successfully re-integrate him into lawful community life,” Ralph Kelly, Thomas’ father, told the court today.
“For Thomas’s death to mean something, it is imperative that every effort is made to ensure that a pathway is created to ensure Mr Loveridge’s transition to community life is as smooth as possible.”
Kelly’s mother, Kathy, said the couple had been “handed a double life sentence”.
Loveridge was heavily drunk when he punched Kelly in the face during a night out in Sydney on July 7, 2012, knocking the 18-year-old down and fracturing his skull when he fell backwards.
He died two days later in hospital.
Loveridge also assaulted four other people that same night.
The incident was one of the contributing factors behind the introduction of Sydney’s strict lockout laws, which were eventually removed in 2021.
He was originally sentenced to seven years and two months in prison, but that was increased to 13 years and eight months on appeal.
Of that, 10 years and six months was specifically for the manslaughter of Kelly.
He became eligible for parole last year, but it was denied by the authority, which found Loveridge’s release would pose a risk to community safety.
Today, though, it said the evidence it had been given indicates Loveridge has made “positive progress” in custody, and that it is better to release him on parole now so he has more than two years of supervision.
“There would be a substantially greater risk posed to community safety if the offender were released at a later time with a shortened period of supervision, or, worse still, at the end of his sentence without any period of supervised parole at all,” it said.
Under his parole conditions, Loveridge is not allowed to drink alcohol, contact Kelly’s family or his co-offenders, nor visit the City of Sydney and Shoalhaven local government areas.
He is also barred from going to the suburb of Neutral Bay, and from having any contact with bikie gangs.
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