A charitable trust is commending tougher sentences for people throwing coward punches. 

The Government's new specific offence for striking a distracted victim could carry a sentence of life imprisonment if fatal.  

Walk Without Fear has been pushing for changes after MMA fighter Liufau Vake was killed by a single coward punch in 2021.  

Board Member Mike Angove told Mike Hosking the charges need to be in conjunction with education that starts at a school level. 

He says that no one argues against the lethality of attacking someone with a knife or a gun, but people are unaware that hitting someone who’s unaware can result in permanent damage or a lethal outcome. 

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