Brisbane dad Steve Miller lost his son Cole in 2016 when he was coward punched by a New Zealander Renata Armstrong in Fortitude Valley. Cole later died from his head injuries.

Armstrong was sentenced to seven years jail in October last year and his accomplice Daniel Maxwell, was given an 18-month suspended sentence. Both men are from New Zealand.

When Mr Miller realised Maxwell had walked free from court, the grieving father put in a call to Mr Dutton’s office.

The home affairs minister has taken a hard line tactic against foreigners committing crimes in Australia, deporting thousands of people for criminal offences.

Calling in to Ray Hadley’s show on 2GB this morning, Mr Miller had a tearful message for the minister.

“I’d just like to thank Peter, last year an accomplice to my son’s death who was killed in a coward’s punch was sentenced to over 12-months jail … and there was a bit of a mix up at the courthouse and he was let to walk free.”

“On that day at about 2pm, I was advised by a journalist that he’d walked free. I got on to Peter Dutton’s office in Canberra, he was unavailable at the time, he was in parliament, and he rang me back at 4.30pm,” Mr Miller said.

“He got onto the Queensland Police and Border Force immediately and that illegal immigrant was taken back into custody by 6.30pm that night and held for deportation to New Zealand.

“I’d like to thank Peter Dutton for that, he didn’t know me from a bar of soap,” Mr Miller added, before breaking down in tears.

“The guy’s a champion, he’s out there looking out for Australians and the Australian way of life and trying to help protect Australians.

“I hadn’t thanked him before but we just want him to know we were grateful for his immediate actions to help that day,” he ended.

During Mr Miller’s thank you, the minister appeared to be on the verge of tears and when the emotional father hung up the phone, he was barely able to string a sentence together.

“It’s just, it’s an emotional thing, it’s heartbreaking,” he told the radio host.

Hadley ended up cutting their interview short, telling the minister they’d chat again next week.

Cole Miller, a rising water polo star, was killed by Armstrong on January 3, 2016 in a random one punch attack.

He died after his family made the heartbreaking decision to turn off his life support.

Maxwell, now back in New Zealand, had tried to start three other fights while walking through the Valley before he and Renata came upon Cole and his friend Nicholas Pace.

Maxwell had said, “Do you want to see something funny?” before approaching the pair and punching Cole in the chest.

Renata then punched Cole in the head, causing him to fall and hit his head. The court heard it was the blow to the head, and not hitting the ground, that killed Cole.

At Armstrong’s sentencing in October last year, Mr Miller said he feared his family would never be able to get past Cole’s death.

“This nightmare continues. It will never end for me and my family,” he said.