Three years' prison for punch that killed a dad

Steve Radnoty. Photo / Otago Daily Times

It was a punch that killed a man and shattered two families.

Just hours after the birth of his son, Matthew Bryce Larson, 23, walked into a Dunedin fast food outlet and, soon after, felled Steve Radnoty, 51, with a single punch.

"He killed Steve and gets three years ... that is ridiculous," the dead man's partner, Carol Radnoty, said yesterday.

Larson, of Christchurch, was yesterday sentenced by Justice Lester Chisholm in the High Court at Dunedin to three years in prison on a charge of manslaughter.

Mrs Radnoty said the sentence did not go far enough.

"That is not going to make anyone think twice."

Mrs Radnoty, citing a recent case of animal abuse where a Te Kuiti man was sentenced to two years and four months' jail after beating a puppy to death with a golf club, said her partner's killer could be out of prison after about the same length of time.

Mrs Radnoty said the tight-knit family had been left devastated by the March 12 incident.

The couple had been out with family and friends, later stopping at the George St McDonald's. Mr Radnoty was hit and fell, hitting his head heavily on the tiled floor. He died in Dunedin Hospital later that day.

Larson's counsel, Sarah Saunderson-Warner, told the court the accused "had travelled to Dunedin for the birth of his son and witnessed the arrival of a new life".

"The night ended with a life ending and he feels that deeply."

He had not intended to cause death or serious injury, but had accepted responsibility for the death, she said.

Crown counsel Robin Bates said Larson had 26 previous convictions, including one of assaulting a female. He had been released from prison a few months before the incident.

- Otago Daily Times