Mother whose son died in 2012 calls for decriminalisation of the law

The mother who campaigned for the introduction of Victoria's historic coward punch legislation is calling for changes to the law to make sure that perpetrators can't escape jail time.

Caterina Politi, whose son David Cassai died in 2012 after he was attacked on New Year's Eve, is lobbying the Victorian Attorney-General to tighten the law.

The legislation can only be applied if the victim of a coward punch attack is unaware they are about to be hit and the perpetrator knows the victim isn't expecting it.

Ms Politi said that the perpetrators in a number of high-profile coward punch attacks avoided the 10 year minimum sentence because the circumstances of the attacks did not fit within the requirements of the legislation.

Prosecutors in the cases of two young men who died in 2017 after separate attacks in Melbourne -- Patrick Cronin in 2016 and Jaiden Walker in 2017 -- did not pursue jail time under the coward punch legislation fearing the loophole would ruin both cases.

Both men were instead jailed for manslaughter. They will be eligible for parole in the near future.

Ms Politi said that the legislation had to be used as intended.

The law needs to be made clearer. Ms Politi said she was heartened to know that the legislation had been used effectively in at least one case.

In January of this year, Joseph Esmaili became the first person to be prosecuted under the coward punch laws after he punched surgeon Patrick Pritzwald-Stegmann at Box Hill Hospital in Melbourne's east in 2017.

He will have to serve 10 years in jail before he can be eligible for parole.

Victoria introduced one-punch laws in 2014. They require prosecutors to prove four key elements, including:

The attacker probably knew that the victim was not expecting to be punched.

Ms Politi said she had continued to lobby the Victorian Attorney-General to tighten the laws, but a string of meetings had been fruitless.

She has been waiting for another meeting, but she is questioning the timing of the state election just months away.

Victorian Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes has been contacted for comment.

The Mornington Peninsula Shire council is set to adopt the campaign ahead of the Schoolies week this year, with thousands of revellers expected to head to party hot spots across the state's south-east.