‘Penalty doesn’t match’: Coward punch victim’s family petition for harsher sentencing

The shattered family of Beau Brownbill, the 18-year-old victim of a coward punch attack in Adelaide’s city centre, have stepped up their push for a tougher sentence for the boy responsible.

The family has started a petition urging the Director of Public Prosecutions to appeal the sentence immediately.

“It’s hard to deal when your son is the shell of the person he once was,” mum Megan Brownbill told 9News.

Just days ago the teenage boy responsible for the Hindley Street assault walked free from court.

He was handed a conviction with a six-month suspended sentence.

“Nowhere where they get to sit and think about what they’ve done and that should be in a cell for a period of time,” Beau’s dad Tony Brownbill told 9News.

The 17-year-old fled the scene outside Fabric Nightclub in February this year, leaving Brownbill unconscious on the ground, with a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain.

The 18-year-old victim spent three days in hospital and suffered lifelong brain damage.

“It’s very unfair, the penalty does not match the severity of the crime that’s happened here,” Megan said.

The Brownbill family have lodged a petition, pushing for the sentence to be appealed and are now "pleading with the public to get behind us" and support their efforts.

The state government told 9News the Attorney General has sought advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions about the prospects of an appeal.

“If these politicians can’t do their job right then move out the way and let somebody who can,” Tony said.