The second of my facebook posts migrated here….
In May 2017, Joseph Esmaili murdered Patrick Pritzwald-Stegmann after Pritzwald-Stegmann told Esmaili not to smoke in a hospital. Esmaili responded with a sucker punch that caused Pritzwald-Stegmann irreparable brain damage and death. In November 2018, Esmaili was convicted only of manslaughter and sentenced to a maximum of twenty years in prison, possibly an earlier release than that. Imagine if Patrick Pritzwald-Stegmann wasn’t a surgeon, just an average person – Esmaili might have gotten only manslaughter or maybe even parole.
If you take the time to look, there is a long string of cases where smokers perpetrated violence (assaults, murders) against those who told them not to smoke where it’s illegal to smoke. It’s not just cruel people burning others and children with cigarette butts, though there is plenty of that.
The trial of Joseph Esmaili has finally begun, seventeen months after he murdered Patrick Pritzwald-Stegman. Esmaili attacked Dr. Pritzwald-Stegman without provocation because Pritzwald-Stegman told Esmaili not to smoke inside a hospital. It is illegal to smoke in Australian hospitals.
Esmaili’s lawyer had the nerve to claim that “turning off life support killed Pritzwald-Stegman” and not the assault which caused irreparable brain damage. To paraphrase William Shakespeare: “First thing we do, let’s kill all the defence lawyers.”
The lawyer also claims Pritzwald-Stegman was the aggressor, despite the hospital’s surveillance video showing Pritzwald-Stegman only spoke to Esmaili and made no threatening gestures, matched by hospital employee witnesses. Esmaili was the only one who threw punches. Video doesn’t lie, smokers do.
It is not “self-defence” to attack someone without provocation, without them attacking you first. And there is no such thing as “smoker’s rights” on private property unless you own the place.
Patrick Pritzwald-Stegman was a heart surgeon who saved lives. Joseph Esmaili is a minimum wage delivery driver with no education.
April 2019:
Esmaili was sentenced to a paltry ten years and six months for an unprovoked assault and murder.
Smoking is not a right, it is a drug addiction, and aggression is a common trait amongst its addicts.