Paying the price of one punch - ABC Local

He told Jill Emberson from 1233 Mornings of his despair that his life has been ruined, with the man who assaulted him receiving only a 14-month sentence.

Tom has found it upsetting watching the current controversy as the parents of Thomas Kelly, killed in Kings Cross by a king hit from Kieran Loveridge, protest the assailant's four-year sentence.

The NSW government is now considering introducing "one punch" laws similar to those in Western Australia.

Tom, a Maitland father of three, was hit after he intervened in a fight on Ken Tubman Drive in October, 2009.

Trainee boxer Beau Lawton punched him in the face once, knocking Tom unconscious and causing him to hit his head on the ground, resulting in catastrophic brain injuries.

Lawton will be eligible for parole in April next year.

Tom says it would be "great" to see stronger laws introduced for "one-punch" attacks.

"My life is stuffed," he says. "I can't do anything at all.

"Fourteen months is a joke."

Tom, who's now dependent on his mother, Shirley Young, stepfather and two paid carers, says sitting through Lawton's trial was "torture".

"It was nothing about me, it was all about him," he says.

"I can't work anymore, I can't live my life like I used to, I can't do anything."

Shirley says she feels for Thomas Kelly's family.

"We know, we've been there, we bleed for them," she says.

Shirley says she and her family don't believe judges are prepared to hand down strong enough sentences for such "horrendous" crimes.

"We never felt that the justice system really fought for my son," she says.

She says the trial was mainly centred around the offender and his unhappy life.

"I don't really have any sense of justice now, I don't believe there's justice," she says.

Shirley recalls Tom being distraught after his attacker was sentenced.

"He just broke down and he wept and screamed," she says.

"He didn't feel that there was any justice, he still cries about that justice system."

You can hear Jill Emberson's interview with Tom Biviano and Shirley Young here.