Wife of one-punch victim shares her grief

An Adelaide court has heard Dianne Vallelonga's victim impact statement after her pizza shop owner husband was killed in a one-punch incident last year.

The wife of a pizza shop owner killed in an Adelaide one-punch attack has poured her heart out in court, saying she lost her best friend that night.

Dianne Vallelonga delivered her victim impact statement in sentencing submissions for Danny Nedza, who this month was found guilty of manslaughter over the death of Rob Vallelonga.

"Losing my honourable husband and the father of my three children is the most unimaginable and distressing thing," she told the South Australian Supreme Court on Thursday.

Mr Vallelonga, 44, was felled by a punch and fatally hit his head in Rundle Street in May last year after a night out with his wife.

"We went out for dinner and drinks and it turned into my nightmare," Mrs Vallelonga said in a statement read to the court.

Mrs Vallelonga said she was left to run the pizza shop business and raise her three teenage children alone, with her husband of 19 years gone.

"The month Rob died was very significant for our family," she said.

"My eldest daughter turned 18, finished school and had her formal. Rob was robbed of these (memories)."

Mrs Vallelonga said her late husband was cheeky, kind-hearted and full of life.

The mother of three told Nedza, 26, to remember her face.

"You took away my best friend, my husband and my world," she said.

"I'll never forgive you for that."

During the trial, prosecutors said Nedza charged at Mr Vallelonga and was not acting in self defence when he threw the deadly blow.

The Vallelongas were getting into a cab and Nedza and his friends were doing the same when the deadly altercation occurred.


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Source: AAP


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