Prison for one-punch attacker who left victim a 'broken man'

A 20-year-old man has been sentenced to six years behind bars for an unprovoked one-punch attack near Canberra’s 88mph nightclub.

Andrew Junior Apelu Saulo previously pleaded guilty to a charge of recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm over the early morning attack on 24 September, 2023.

The court previously heard Saulo’s victim had been out celebrating a birthday at 88mph when his female friend felt intimidated by a group of men, one of whom was Saulo, “circling around her”.

Following a slight scuffle in the club, both the victim, his female friend and Saulo and his group were ejected from the establishment.

When the victim and his friend started walking away, Saulo’s group followed.

The woman ended up standing between the victim and the group, and when she tried to block one man from approaching, Saulo “opportunistically” took advantage of the gap created and punched the victim, knocking him to the ground unconscious.

During sentencing in the ACT Supreme Court on Friday (21 June), Chief Justice Lucy McCallum noted Saulo’s offending was one of “very considerable seriousness”.

It had also occurred while Saulo was on conditional liberty for “eerily similar” offending.

Chief Justice McCallum said while Saulo could be afforded some discount on his sentence for pleading guilty, she wouldn’t apply any further discount over the fact that he had handed himself in to police following a public call for information.

She also didn’t agree with a pre-sentence report’s finding that he would be suitable for an intensive corrections order.

The Chief Justice pointed to a letter of apology Saulo had written following earlier offending where he promised: “This will never happen again.”

“[But] it did,” she said.

Chief Justice McCallum also noted that while Saulo’s age was to his advantage, given the court’s consideration of rehabilitating young people, she also needed to give “considerable weight” to protecting the community, the harm done to the victim and to address the “recklessness” of the offending.

“[The victim impact statement noted] ‘I am a broken man and my life has changed forever’,” she read.

The victim suffered a broken skull, permanent brain damage and facial palsy. He lost four teeth, his sense of taste and smell, his hearing in one ear, and continues to experience pain, headaches and loss of memory, concentration and balance.

Recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm carries a maximum penalty of 13 years’ imprisonment.

Chief Justice McCallum sentenced Saulo to six years, reduced from eight on account of his early guilty plea.

She also set an “unusually low” non-parole period of three years (50 per cent of the sentence) on account of Saulo’s age and prospects for rehabilitation.

Given the time he’s already served, Saulo will be eligible for parole in October 2026.

He was also ordered to pay more than $7300 to help cover some of the victim’s dental surgery costs.

Saulo was born in New Zealand and is a permanent resident of Australia (after his family moved here when he was eight), so he also faces the prospect of deportation.