Twelve days after being released from prison, an impulsive man with a violent history inflicted a fatal blow during a drunken fight outside Dandenong Plaza.
Rorey Nolan, 37, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court of Victoria to the manslaughter of a 51-year-old man on a Monday afternoon on 15 October 2018.
Nolan had approached the victim seated outside the plaza’s entrance, threatening to hit him and calling him a dog, Justice Lesley Taylor said in sentencing on 10 July.
Three minutes later, Nolan re-emerged, put down a bottle and adopted a boxing posture.
Nolan threw a punch at the victim’s face. The victim – later found to have a blood-alcohol reading of 0.42 – stepped forward and stumbled as he twice pushed back at Nolan.
Nolan then flung another punch that felled the victim backwards, his head striking the pavement.
Nolan was heard to say his motionless victim deserved it.
Police arrested him during a chase through the centre’s car park.
He was found with a white crystal powder and a glass pipe. He later told police he’d drunk a quarter-bottle of red wine that day.
The victim was taken to Dandenong Hospital with a broken skull, nose and cheekbone and a “catastrophic” brain injury.
He remained intubated, ventilated and sedated for more than two months until he died.
Justice Taylor found Nolan, with an extensive and violent criminal history, was the “instigator” of the fight.
“While (the victim) showed some aggression – gesticulating, shouting and swearing – you were undoubtedly more aggressive,” she said.
“Alcohol fuelled violence and ‘one punch’ manslaughters are prevalent and of great concern to the community.
“Your drunken impulsiveness took the life of another human being.
“Instances of such behaviour are to be met with both the condemnation of this court and significant penalty.”
Mental impairment reduced Nolan’s culpability but protection of the community was still important, Justice Taylor said.
Nolan, mildly intellectually disabled with an IQ of 61, was “highly impulsive” with “poor” rehabilitative prospects.
His “poor frustration tolerance” and aggressive outbursts were firmly entrenched.
Nolan’s “appallingly traumatic” childhood had “negatively and seriously impacted” him, Judge Taylor noted.
“Your formative years were nothing short of tragic”.
He’d been unable to live independently, been homeless and never worked.
From age 10, he started drinking with his mother. It developed into a daily habit enjoined with cannabis, meth and heroin abuse.
During his jail terms, Nolan had been victimised and thus isolated in protective custody. During his 546 days in remand, he’d not enjoyed a personal visit, phone call nor mail.
Nolan was jailed for up to seven years, with a minimum non-parole period of four-and-a-half years.
