Chris Davidson: Australian man jailed for killing former pro-surfer

Chris Davidson was killed in a one-punch attack at a New South Wales pub in 2022

An Australian man has been sentenced to five years in prison for killing former pro-surfer Chris Davidson.

Grant Coleman, 43, punched the 45-year-old outside a pub north of Sydney in 2022, causing him to strike his head.

The court heard that Mr Coleman claimed he had attacked Davidson to protect the local community, because he was a convicted child sex offender.

Judge Peter McGrath criticised Mr Coleman for taking the law "into his own hands".

"He was judge and jury of Mr Davidson. Tragically, Mr Coleman also became Mr Davidson's executioner," he said, according to the Australian Associated Press, which also reported that Davidson had been convicted of indecently assaulting a 15-year-old girl in 2017.

Mr McGrath added that Mr Coleman had developed a "fixation" with Davidson, because to his "knowledge and belief" he was a "repeat abuser" of "young females".

And that in the lead up to the attack, he had called Davidson a "paedophile" several times, after seeing him approach a 19-year-old girl at the bar.

The 43-year-old pleaded guilty to charges of assault causing death and common assault in August.

Receiving his sentence on Friday, he said he was "haunted" by his crime.

"[When] I realised what I'd done. I wanted him to wake up, to regain consciousness," he told the district court, the ABC reported.

Davidson first shot to fame in 1996, when he famously beat surfing legend Kelly Slater in two consecutive heats as a wild card entry into the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach in Australia. Following his death, Mr Slater paid tribute to the former athlete as "one of the most naturally talented surfers" he ever knew.

In a victim impact statement last year, his family described the devastation his death had caused.

"He spent all of his life surfing and he was never attacked by a shark but he was taken by a human shark," his sister said.

"We can never forgive and forget and this incident should just never have happened."