Cole Miller, a water polo player for the Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS), has died at 18 years of age, according to a statement released by Curtis Pitt who is Treasurer and Minister for sport in Queensland.
Pitt said the 18-year-old was a talented star on the rise who split his time between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast. “This is such a tragic loss for Mr. Miller’s family and friends and for his peers at the QAS,” Mr Pitt said. “I know he was a well-liked member of the QAS family and had a very bright future ahead of him. Mr. Miller was recently promoted to the QAS Squad as a scholarship holder and had already represented Queensland in the under 20s National Championships and at the World Club Challenge last week in Sydney.”
QAS executive director Bennett King also offered condolences to those affected; “On behalf of the QAS, our thoughts are with Cole’s family and friends as they come to terms with this tragic loss,” Mr King said.
Miller was reportedly randomly struck in the back of the head early Sunday morning at a Brisbane mall. He was taken to Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital with life-threatening injuries. His father, Steven Miller, told reporters his son suffered “massive brain trauma”, and his life support was switched off Monday afternoon, according to news.com.au.
The two men accused of the unprovoked attack have had their charges upgraded ever since Miller’s death, and if convicted will face a minimum 15-year jail term for unlawful striking causing death. The unlawful striking charge has a minimum 15-year term without parole and a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, according to the guardian.com.
Several Australian swimmers have expressed their condolences via social media.
It is obscene to hand down a measly 15 year sentence for the crime of murder. The victim had his life shortened by nearly 70 years and the perpetrator simply gets a long detention at taxpayer expense!? The murderer doesn’t deserve to live. What a disgrace. Who knew life was so cheap.
If you feel this way, don’t look at the US judicial system in terms of how they handle murder…
In the US, the death penalty is handed down on a state by state basis. Some states have it, others don’t. I believe most Western countries don’t have the death penalty.
My gut reaction was to agree with you and be outraged, but I thought about it for a moment and realised that one incredibly stupid action should not determine the whole lifetime of the guy(s) who hit him. Lifetime for pre-meditated murder may even be too much, but this was not that. I wish there was a way to effectively punish someone without taking away their whole life too, but there isn’t, and I think 15 years minimum can absolutely change someone.
I would agree with you, except this is murder. By their justice, the 21 year old murderer can get out at 36, get married, have kids, live life, be successful & possibly get rich…. like NOTHING ever happened. Warped. He was old enough to know. It’s also a terrible message sent to the rest of society: No sanctity to life – you can be wreckless and let it cost someone else’s life and still sort of get away with it.
Nope. Send a clear message. You kill, you get killed. Kids will think twice rather than perform a deadly assault.
As the articles state, 15 years would be the minimum sentence, if the charged perpetrators are found guilty, while life imprisonment is the maximum.
Best to stay calm, Victor P…dealing with justice from a place of anger does no service to the victim, nor does arbitrating the “deservedness” of life in a vengeful, emotional state. I don’t know of many places, including most states in the US, where capital punishment is used indiscriminately for “second degree” or “manslaughter” type charges. Also, whatever your feelings about the ethical legitimacy of capital punishment–and Australia, along with 157 countries out of the world’s 195 has decided there is no ethical legitimacy in state death–one should remember that it costs taxpayers much more… Read more »
Avantswim, I’m calm. Not my kid getting buried because a thug was careless. That’s the reality of it. The other reality is that, you in fact embolden criminals who may be okay with doing 15 years. I guarantee you that countries that enforce a swift death penalty see a lot less cases of murder, because of that very measure of justice.
Even more tragic will be how many more will have to die because human life is not held in the highest of esteem and safeguarded with the most stringent of measures.
Finally, I can’t for 1 second believe that feeding, housing, rehabilitating, etc. a criminal for a lifetime at the cost of what is a minimum of $40K… Read more »
As regards the death penalty, the United States is the outlier.
In Australia – as in Canada, Western Europe, New Zealand and most OECD countries – the guiding principle is that the taking of a life is so extreme – so wrong, if you will – that it can not be justified under any circumstances. In countries where the death penalty was removed from the statutes, it was removed for moral reasons not practical ones. Even it was a deterrent, it could not be justified.
It – the death penalty – is just not done.
One can debate length of sentence, compensation for the victim(s) and their families (By either the state or perpetrator.) or all manner of… Read more »