A fruit picker who killed a co-worker during a fight in the Riverland has been released from prison on a good behaviour bond following his sentencing in Adelaide's District Court.
Mani Vi, from Tonga, pleaded guilty to manslaughter over the death of a 29-year-old fruit picker at a Paringa accommodation facility on August 2, 2020.
The court previously was told that CCTV had captured Vi as the main participant in two fights that erupted between a group of backpackers working as fruit pickers.
However, it was told, the victim had stepped in to try and stop the first altercation but was punched and later knocked to the ground when he tried to intervene again.
The court was told the fight was sparked over a dispute about ethnicity and was fuelled by alcohol.
It was told others tried to revive the victim before taking him back to his room, where he was left lying on a couch for 47 hours before his friends realised that he needed urgent medical attention.
He was then rushed to the Royal Adelaide Hospital where he died nine days later.
In a victim impact statement provided to the court, the victim's sister said:
"I miss him every single day. I cry over him every day," she said.
"The pain never stops, he was everything to me."
Judge Rauf Soulio sentenced Vi to three years, four months and 25 days in prison, which contained a discount due to his early guilty plea.
He said he took into consideration the circumstances of the offending, Vi's prospects of rehabilitation, his good character, genuine contrition and the fact he had come from a good family.
The court heard Vi had been providing ongoing financial assistance to his family in Tonga, even while in jail, and had only seen his young son once since the child was born.
Judge Soulio partially suspended the sentence, which meant — given the time Vi had already served in prison — he could be released upon entering a $10,000 bond to be of good behaviour for three years.
