Hugh James is proud to be associated with the charity One Punch UK and to show our support our teams will be wearing something red or blue to help raise funds for the charity and to promote ‘one-punch’ awareness week.
As former Police Detective with over 20 years’ experience investigating murder and manslaughter and supporting families affected by violent crime and road death as a Family Liaison Officer, Oliver Gilmartin, Relationship Manager in the Neurolaw team has seen at first-hand, the utter devastation that ‘one punch’ violence can have on the victim, their families, local communities and, indeed, on the perpetrator.
In most cases one-punch assaults come from nowhere; they are often an over-reaction, an immediate and violent response to a trivial altercation in the street, a spilled drink in the pub or an unintended glance at the wrong time and in the wrong direction.
It is true that some one-punch assaults are pre-meditated and driven by anti-social violence, however, in my experience, few perpetrators intend or anticipate the end result. Instead, heavily influenced by alcohol or recreational drugs, they display reckless behaviour and irrational judgement. Although the mechanics of a one-punch assault are relatively simple, the repercussions certainly are not; the implications for those effected by that one moment of madness are often life changing and permanent. For the victim, if the injuries do not prove fatal then recovering from a traumatic brain injury is a hugely complex challenge.
I have sadly met too many people for whom life changed irrevocably because of one simple punch; personalities and relationships change beyond all measure, plans and aspirations gone in an instant and once fit and active people unable to live an independent life.
