Assault causing death in NSW.

On Tuesday 14 July 2026, NSW Police charged a man with murder after an elderly man died in Yennora, in Sydney's west, following an alleged assault. The charge is a matter for the court and the man is entitled to the presumption of innocence. This article does not comment on that case. It uses the news to explain the law that applies whenever a death follows an assault in New South Wales.

The starting point is that not every fatal punch is murder. The charge depends on the accused's state of mind at the time of the blow. Murder needs proof of an intent to kill or to cause serious injury, or reckless indifference to human life. Manslaughter needs an unlawful and dangerous act, or criminal negligence. Assault causing death needs neither. It was written to fill the gap the earlier cases exposed. We set out how the three fit together below, then focus on section 25A.

What is the one-punch law in NSW?

The one-punch law is section 25A of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), the offence of assault causing death. It has two limbs. Section 25A(1) is the basic offence. A person commits it if they assault another person by intentionally hitting them with any part of the body or with an object, and the assault causes the death of that person. The maximum penalty is 20 years imprisonment.

Section 25A(2) is the aggravated offence. It applies where the offender was 18 or over and intoxicated at the time. The maximum rises to 25 years. Section 25B then sets a mandatory minimum of 8 years imprisonment for the aggravated offence, and the non-parole period cannot be set below 8 years. This is one of the few offences in NSW carrying a mandatory minimum sentence. You can read the section in full on the NSW legislation website.

The label "one punch" is journalistic shorthand. The section does not require a punch. A push, a kick, or a single strike with an object will do. What matters is that the accused intended the hit and that the hit caused death.

Is one punch considered assault?

A single punch is an assault. An assault at law is any act that causes another person to fear immediate and unlawful violence, or any unlawful contact with another person. A punch that lands is both. So the smallest single blow can be an assault, and the same blow can ground a much more serious charge if the person who is struck falls, hits their head, and dies.

This is the point the one-punch cases turned on. The person who throws the punch rarely intends death. Often they do not even intend serious injury. The death comes from the fall, not the punch. For an ordinary assault charge that does not matter, because common assault does not require any injury at all. For a homicide charge it matters a great deal, because the accused's state of mind is what separates murder from manslaughter from assault causing death.

What must the Crown prove under section 25A?

The elements of the basic offence are short. The Crown must prove three things beyond reasonable doubt. First, that the accused assaulted the deceased. Second, that the assault involved intentionally hitting the deceased with a part of the body or an object. Third, that the assault caused the death.

Causation is the element that carries the weight. The hit must be a substantial or significant cause of the death. Where a person is struck, falls, and dies from the head strike on the ground, the law treats the punch as the cause of the death. The fall is part of the chain the accused set off. Section 25A(3) makes clear that the assault can cause death directly or by causing the person to fall and hit a surface or object.

There is no requirement that the death be foreseeable. That is the feature that sets section 25A apart from manslaughter. The Crown does not have to prove that a reasonable person would have seen the risk of death, or even the risk of serious harm. The intentional hit plus the death is enough. Self-defence remains available on the same terms as any assault charge; we cover the tests in our note on assault and consent and the wider defences in the charge pages.

Is assault causing death the same as manslaughter?

No. They overlap, but they are different offences with different elements. Manslaughter by an unlawful and dangerous act requires the Crown to prove that the act was dangerous, meaning that a reasonable person in the position of the accused would have realised the act carried a risk of some harm. Manslaughter by criminal negligence requires a great falling short of the standard of care, with a high risk of death or serious injury. Both are open-ended offences with a maximum of 25 years and no mandatory minimum.

Assault causing death strips out the dangerousness test. It was designed for the case where a single blow causes an unexpected death, the kind of case that can be hard to fit into manslaughter because the punch, viewed on its own, might not obviously carry a risk of harm to a jury. Section 25A gives the prosecution a charge that does not depend on foreseeability. It can also be left to a jury as an alternative verdict where the main charge is murder or manslaughter. For the full picture of the homicide offences, see our explainer on murder and manslaughter in NSW.

What is the penalty for assault causing death in NSW?

The basic offence under section 25A(1) carries a maximum of 20 years imprisonment. The aggravated offence under section 25A(2), where the offender was 18 or over and intoxicated, carries a maximum of 25 years. For the aggravated offence, section 25B sets a mandatory minimum of 8 years, and the court cannot fix a non-parole period below 8 years.

The mandatory minimum is a blunt instrument. It removes the court's usual power to weigh the full circumstances of the offence and the offender. The court still fixes the head sentence and can go above the minimum, and the ordinary aggravating and mitigating factors under section 21A of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 still apply to the head sentence. We set those out in our note on the section 21A factors. But the floor of 8 years cannot be crossed for the intoxicated offence, whatever the mitigation.

Why was the one-punch law introduced?

Sections 25A and 25B were inserted by the Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment (Assault and Intoxication) Act 2014 and commenced on 31 January 2014. They were passed quickly, in the space of days, after a run of deaths from single punches in Sydney's entertainment districts. The cases of Thomas Kelly and Daniel Christie drove the public campaign.

The turning point was the sentence first imposed on Kieran Loveridge for the manslaughter of Thomas Kelly. The trial judge fixed a non-parole period the public saw as too low. The Crown appealed. In R v Loveridge [2014] NSWCCA 120 the Court of Criminal Appeal increased the sentence and rejected the idea of a separate, lower category of one-punch manslaughter. You can read the decision through JADE. The Judicial Commission's Special Bulletin 6 records how the new sections changed sentencing for these matters. The political response was the new offence and the mandatory minimum, over the objection of much of the legal profession, which warned that mandatory minimums remove judicial discretion and rarely deter.

How a section 25A charge is defended.

The defence work starts with causation. The Crown has to prove the assault was a substantial cause of death. Where there is an existing medical condition, an intervening act, or a dispute about how the person came to strike the ground, causation is live. The autopsy, the medical records, and any expert evidence on the cause of death are tested closely.

The next question is whether the hit was intentional. Section 25A requires an intentional hit. An accidental contact, a reflex, or a hit that was not aimed at the deceased is not caught. Self-defence is available, and it is often the real issue where the death arose out of a fight the deceased started. Where self-defence is raised, the Crown must exclude it beyond reasonable doubt.

Intoxication is the third front. The aggravated offence and the mandatory minimum only apply if the accused was intoxicated. The level of alcohol or drugs, the timing, and the reliability of the evidence of intoxication all matter, because they decide whether the 8-year floor applies at all. Related assault offences, such as reckless wounding, can also be in play where the death charge is contested.

What we do for clients facing a fatal-assault charge.

A charge of murder, manslaughter, or assault causing death is heard in the Supreme Court of NSW. The matter begins in the Local Court and is committed up. Bail is the first battle, and for a homicide charge it is hard-fought. The brief is then read in full: the post-mortem, the CCTV, the witness accounts of the moments before and after the blow, and the record of interview.

The early strategic decision is which homicide charge the evidence really supports. A murder charge can often be met by negotiating a plea to manslaughter or to assault causing death, where the evidence of intent is weak. That negotiation is where the outcome is usually decided. The section 25A charge, with its mandatory minimum, changes that calculus, so the intoxication evidence and the causation evidence are worked hard from the first week.

Frequently asked.

What is the one-punch law in NSW?

The one-punch law is section 25A of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), the offence of assault causing death. It applies where a person intentionally hits another and that hit causes death. The Crown does not have to prove an intent to kill or that death was foreseeable. The basic offence carries a maximum of 20 years. Where the offender was 18 or over and intoxicated, the maximum is 25 years and a mandatory minimum of 8 years applies.

Is one punch considered assault?

Yes. A single punch is an assault. If it causes a person to fear immediate violence, or if it lands, it is an assault at law. If it causes death, it can support a charge of assault causing death under section 25A, or manslaughter, or in some cases murder.

Is assault causing death the same as manslaughter?

No. Manslaughter by an unlawful and dangerous act requires the Crown to prove the act was dangerous, meaning a reasonable person would have seen a risk of some harm. Section 25A removes that requirement. The Crown only has to prove the assault and that it caused death. Assault causing death is also available as an alternative verdict to murder or manslaughter.

What is the penalty for assault causing death in NSW?

The basic offence under section 25A(1) carries a maximum of 20 years. The aggravated offence under section 25A(2), where the offender was 18 or over and intoxicated, carries a maximum of 25 years. Section 25B sets a mandatory minimum of 8 years, and the non-parole period cannot be less than 8 years.

Why was the one-punch law introduced?

Sections 25A and 25B were inserted by the Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment (Assault and Intoxication) Act 2014 and commenced on 31 January 2014. They followed a series of deaths from single punches in Sydney and the public response to the sentencing of Kieran Loveridge for the manslaughter of Thomas Kelly, later increased on appeal in R v Loveridge [2014] NSWCCA 120.

Will I go to jail for assault occasioning actual bodily harm in NSW?

Assault occasioning actual bodily harm under section 59 is a different and less serious offence, with a maximum of 5 years, or 7 years if committed in company. A gaol sentence is possible but not required. The court can impose a range of penalties, including a conditional release order or an intensive correction order, depending on the facts and the person's record.

To speak to a criminal defence lawyer, call Aaron Kernaghan on 0421 717 019.

This article is written by Aaron Kernaghan, criminal defence lawyer at Good Legal Lawyers, as at 15 July 2026. It is commentary and reflects the personal opinion of the author only. It is not legal advice, it is not a substitute for advice on your own matter, and it does not purport to be accurate or complete. Any matter referred to may be before the court and any person charged is presumed innocent. For advice on a specific matter, contact Aaron Kernaghan on 0421 717 019 or contact the firm.

More criminal-law commentary by Aaron Kernaghan.

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