Calls are being made for tougher penalties on so-called coward' punches, after a mixed martial artist was left critically-injured following an assault on Symonds Street in central Auckland.
Fau Vake was blind-sided by a punch in central Auckland. Photo: RNZ / Dan Cook
Fau Vake, 25, a fighter at City Kickboxing, is in a coma after being punched from behind during the early hours of Sunday morning.
Vake is one of the main training partners of UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, who is leading the calls for tougher laws for such attacks.
Four people have been charged by the police in relation to the incident.
Head coach at City Kickboxing, Eugene Bareman, said Vake was an outstanding UFC prospect and a key part of his gym.
He said a lot of people had been affected by the incident and that the man's family had been left distraught and hoping for a miracle.
"They are devastated and just holding on to their faith, just taking every minute and every hour as it comes."
There had been incidents involving other gym members over the past 20 years of the gym's existence and the attacks were happening a lot more to gym members than to ordinary members of society, Bareman said.
The coach said new tougher laws were necessary to deal with 'coward's punches', otherwise such attacks would keep happening.
"This is going to keep reoccurring if we are not disincentivising people to do this" - Head coach at City Kickboxing, Eugene Bareman
"This is going to keep reoccurring if we are not disincentivising people to do this then it's something that we are going to be dealing with as a society for a long time, until something is done about it," Bareman said.
The Crimes (Coward Punch Causing Death) Amendment Bill, was introduced in September 2018 and was defeated in Parliament on 17 June 2020. The bill came about after a number of incidents where victims had died after being blind-sided with a 'coward's punch'.
The bill would have created a new offence that would allow for a specific king-hit-type offence where the victim died of injuries following the assault. Those convicted would have received a maximum sentence of 20 years' imprisonment.
"We can't fathom why a bill in 2018 didn't pass the first reading, basically bringing our laws in line with the ones currently operating in Australia," he said.
"This needs to be revisited because there's many cases documented of this happening and it keeps reoccurring... There needs to be harsher penalties to match the harshness of the crime."
UFC champion Israel Adesanya. Photo: PhotoSport / Stephen R. Sylvanie
UFC champion Israel Adesanya was the victim of similar type of assault seven years ago, Bareman said, and the high-profile athlete felt strongly laws needed to tighten up to deter that type of behaviour.
"Israel is fully adamant that this is something that he needs to advocate for, that this needs to be stopped, that there have been reoccurring incidences, ultimately leading up to his very close training partner falling victim to the same thing."
Vake, an up-and-coming fighter, had been a member of the gym for six years. He had just turned professional a month ago, registering his first win in the pro ranks.
Bareman said he had an good amateur career and had been an exceptional prospect in the world scene.
"On Saturday morning Israel sparred around with this young man and it was the last round he'd ever sparred and he beat Israel in that round... He was definitely a future prospect and one that was going to make his way into the same orbit in the organisation as Israel."