"You could've just walked away" - Hull dad speaks out after son's one-punch death
Scott Akester died from a single punch last year - his dad has highlighted the impact of that moment.
Last updated 7th Jul 2023
Michael Pearson, 30, was convicted of manslaughter last week and jailed for seven-and-a-half years. He punched Scott, his friend of 17 years, outside a pub in Hull causing him to fall and hit his head on the floor.
Steve Akester, 60 works as a lorry driver in Hull and said his son's killer has shown no remorse since the incident. He said: "If he held his hands up in the first place we wouldn't have had to go through the trial.
"It didn't need to happen, you could've just walked away. He spun round and punched him, there's no need for it. It's just senseless.
He said that the whole family has been affected by what happened:
"Scott's daughter Ella turns five in August. She's just got an iPad and has started doing video calls trying to call her dad, wondering where he is. There's all these little things that people don't realise you go through."
Steve and his wife Debbie received support from charity One Punch UK, and are now campaigning to get a local centre set up in Hull, for families of other victims in the area.
"We need to get people thinking that if you have a little disagreement you don't have to punch somebody, because the consequences are that somebody could die.
"We need to go into schools and community centres to try to educate people. Even if one person doesn't have to go through what we have, that's a bonus in my eyes."
The family are now raising money for One Punch UK in honour of Scott and Paul Gareth, another victim of a one-punch death.
The link to their fundraising page can be found here.