Larson, of Christchurch, was yesterday sentenced by Justice Lester Chisholm in the High Court at Dunedin to three years in prison on a charge of manslaughter.
"He killed Steve and gets three years ... That is ridiculous," the dead man's visibly upset partner, Carol Radnoty, told the Otago Daily Times on the steps of the Dunedin Courthouse yesterday morning.
Shaking her head after the sentencing, Mrs Radnoty said the sentence did not go far enough.
"That is not going to make anyone think twice." Mrs Radnoty, citing a recent case of animal abuse where a Te Kuiti man was sentenced to two years and four months' jail after beating a puppy to death with a golf club, said her partner's killer would possibly be released from prison about the time.
"He will be out in two years." Mrs Radnoty said the tight-knit family had been left devastated by the March 12 incident.
She hoped that it would serve as a wake-up call over alcohol-fuelled violence.
"It is sheer stupidity in the way young people go out and drink like that." Before the incident, Mrs Radnoty and her partner of 17 years were celebrating with friends and family at a tavern, later stopping at the George St McDonald's Family Restaurant.
The couple, who had plans to marry, were packed and ready to start a new life in Roxburgh, when the punch from Larson about 4.30am changed their lives forever.
Mr Radnoty fell, hitting his head heavily on the tiled floor.
He never regained consciousness and died in Dunedin Hospital later that day, surrounded by family members.
"We have to live like this for the rest of our our lives and he could get out in just over a year," Mrs Radnoty's daughter, Kristin Speak, of Dunedin, said outside the courthouse.
"He took away our father. And I get to miss out on my father walking me down the aisle, meeting my children ... " Her brother, David McLeod, of Christchurch, said there was no sentence that could "undo what has happened".
" ... it still feels like a life should be worth more".
While the family would have to live with their loss, Larson could be released at the age of 25 and be able to return to his family as a young man with a life still ahead of him.
The family said they had not received any apology from Larson, and were unlikely to meet him in the future.
Larson's counsel Sarah Saunderson-Warner told the court the accused "had travelled to Dunedin for the birth of his son and witnessed the arrival of a new life".
"The night ended with a life ending and he feels that deeply."
He had not intended to cause death or serious injury, but had accepted responsibility for the death, she said.
He had offered to attend a restorative justice meeting with Mr Radnoty's family, but they had declined. He had written letters of apology to the court and to the family, she said.
In written submissions, Crown counsel Robin Bates said Larson had 26 previous convictions dating back to 2003, including five of drink-driving and one of assaulting a female.
He had been released from prison a few months before the incident and was serving a community work sentence in March.
