Chris Davidson, Former Championship Tour Surfer, was Killed Outside Bar in Australia in 2022.
Grant Alec Coleman has been sentenced to five years in prison for killing former pro surfer Chris Davidson.
On September 24, 2022, Coleman, 43, punched Davidson, 45, in the face outside the South West Rocks Country Club, north of Sydney. As a result, Davidson fell, struck his head on the pavement and died at the hospital a short time later. Coleman pleaded guilty to charges of assault causing death and common assault in August.
“He was judge and jury of Mr Davidson. Tragically, Mr Coleman also became Mr Davidson’s executioner,” said Judge Peter McGrath, according to the Australian Associated Press.
Coleman claimed he had attacked Davidson to protect the local community, because he was a convicted child sex offender. Also according to the Associated Press, Davidson had been convicted of indecently assaulting a 15-year-old girl in 2017.
McGrath said that Coleman had “developed a fixation” on Davidson, as the BBC reports. He also noted that, before the attack, Coleman had called Davidson a “pedophile” several times, both inside and outside the club, after seeing him approach a 19-year-old girl at the bar.
“Mr Coleman felt justified in taking the law in his own hands,” said McGrath, as ABC reported. “In Mr Coleman’s point of view, he was like some unofficial sheriff of South West Rocks.”
After receiving his sentence on Friday, Coleman said he was “haunted” by the crime. He told the district court, “[When] I realized what I’d done. I wanted him to wake up, to regain consciousness.”
