Four years after a frenzied late-night brawl led to a young electrician's death, his family are left wondering who was responsible for the fatal blow.
Evander "Woody" Tuala hit his head on the pavement after being struck outside the Oxford Hotel in inner Sydney on April 9, 2022.
While five men were convicted of affray over the punch-up, no one has been charged over the 23-year-old's death.
A six-day inquest over August and December, and findings on Thursday brought Mr Tuala's family no closer to answers.
“The evidence does not allow me to find who hit Mr Tuala in the affray before he fell," coroner Carmel Forbes said.
The 23-year-old was rushed to St. Vincent's Hospital after hitting his head on the ground.
Suffering serious brain injuries, his life support was turned off two days later.
Earlier at the inquest, Ms Forbes was told Mr Tuala loved his job as an apprentice electrician.
His mother Claudia Tuala described her son as a selfless, generous spirit.
“She said he lived for quality human connections," Ms Forbes said on Thursday.
"He was charismatic with a magical way of making people feel special and seen.”
The inquest heard from a number of witnesses to the fight, including two of the convicted men - Joel Tutt and Brayden Holten.
Ms Tuala's family urged the coroner to find that one man - Keidan Donovan-Phillips - landed the fatal blow.
On Thursday, Ms Forbes found that Mr Donovan-Phillips and another man, Byron Brown-Yeo, were close to Mr Tuala when he fell.
If the 23-year-old was intentionally struck, it was likely to have been one of those men, the coroner said.
However, she noted the nature of the affray, saying someone else could have landed the fatal blow.
"The possibility of a punch from anyone in that tight, frenzied huddle inadvertently striking Evander cannot be excluded,” she said.
While plenty of witnesses saw the brawl, including two security guards at the Stonewall Hotel across the road, there was no consistent evidence about who punched Mr Tuala.
Police were told a variety of claims, including that the assailant was either tall or short, shirtless or wearing a black tank top or white T-shirt.
"This is reflective of how frenzied and quick this altercation was," Ms Forbes said.
The quality of footage from nearby CCTV and taxi cameras also meant it was impossible to see who punched whom.
