A word from Matt and Robyn Cronin
Many of you will be aware that Pat Cronin, the son of Matt and Robyn Cronin, was killed in April 2016 by a coward punch and since then Matt and his family have endured an arduous legal battle through the courts. Thankfully the process has come to a conclusion with the killer being sentenced in November. Here is a note from Matt and Robyn.
After waiting for almost 19 months following the death of Pat, we are thankful that the trial is finally over.
The sentence handed down to Pat’s killer was for 8 years with a minimum of 5 years and although it was in line with what the prosecution expected this hardly seems fair to us. In reality there was never going to be a sentence that was adequate as nothing was going to bring Pat back. Sadly, the laws that were introduced for Coward Punch attacks like Pat’s case let us all down with technicalities of the law proving to be unworkable – we have a personal crusade we wish to take up to ensure these laws are changed to provide greater protection and consequences.
Following the trial there has been wide media coverage of our story and just being able to finally talk publicly has helped us enormously as we set about the work we plan to do with the Pat Cronin Foundation. The foundation has allowed us to focus on making positive changes in an otherwise very negative situation.
The first intention of the Pat Cronin Foundation is to honour Pat and if you have seen the CCTV vision that has been released there is almost nothing that we need to do as Pat’s actions on the 16th of April 2016 clearly show the good nature and character that he truly was. Pat did nothing more than try to help his mates who were being attacked.
The second intention of the Pat Cronin Foundation is to End the Coward Punch and this will be achieved through our:
- Education programs
- Awareness programs, and
- Research programs
If you would like to find out more about the Pat Cronin Foundation or if you would like to make a tax deductible donation or purchase some of our wonderful merchandise, please visit www.patcroninfoundation.org.au or our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/patcroninfoundation/ – please like and share our page as this is our main form of communication.
We would like to thank everyone at Tailored Lifetime Solutions who have assisted you over the past 19 months and we would also like to thank everyone of you who has sent us so many kind messages of support and friendship – every message has helped us to get through this horrible ordeal. Finally we thank you all for remembering our beautiful son Pat.
Be Wise
Matt & Robyn
#PC12
#Endthecowardpunch
