LATEST: The life sentence with no parole handed down to the man who murdered Sarah Cafferkey and dumped her body in a wheelie bin was of “unprecedented magnitude” in Victoria, a court has heard.
Victorian Legal Aid defence barrister Tim Marsh said Supreme Court Justice Kevin Bell’s decision to order that Steven James Hunter, 47, never be released was not warranted given the circumstances of the case.
Mr Marsh told the Court of Appeal’s president Justice Chris Maxwell and Justices Phillip Priest and Paul Coghlan that this was the first example of a judge jailing someone for life without parole despite the offender having pleaded guilty at the earliest possible opportunity.
The defence barrister said an analysis of similar murder cases showed an appropriate non-parole period for Hunter should be in excess of 30 years given the seriousness of the crime.
Mr Marsh argued that Hunter, 47, deserved to be given the chance of being released when he was aged between 77 and 82.
Hunter, who served 13 years in prison for the 1986 murder of 18-year-old Jacqueline Mathews, repeatedly stabbed Ms Cafferkey, 22, and bashed her with a hammer after an argument at his Bacchus Marsh apartment on November 10 last year.
Hunter put Ms Cafferkey’s body in the boot of his car and drove to a house at Point Cook where he placed her in a green wheelie bin. He poured concrete into the bin over the body.
Hunter was unable to later get rid of the wheelie bin to try to cover up what he had done because the concrete had set and it was too heavy.
After his arrest, Hunter told police he wanted to be locked up forever.
Justice Bell, when handing down his sentence in August, said Hunter did not deserve to ever be released back into the community after accepting responsibility for “this most heinous crime”.
The judge said Ms Cafferkey’s murder had shown Hunter’s propensity for extreme violence from which the community, especially young women, needed protection.
Hunter’s Victorian Legal Aid lawyers lodged an application seeking leave to appeal the sentence in September.
Ms Cafferkey’s mother, Noelle Dickson, who was in court on Thursday, then wrote a letter to Premier Denis Napthine, Attorney-General Robert Clark, and Corrections Minister Edward O’Donohue, describing her anger at convicted murderers such as Hunter receiving legal aid to fund their appeals.
“These funds should be used towards rehabilitation programs for criminals with a chance of rehabilitation, not to defend serious violent double-murdering offenders, proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt and given maximum sentences for heinous crimes,” Ms Dickson wrote.
Ms Dickson had told Justice Bell before Hunter was sentenced that she pictured her daughter being thrown out like garbage whenever she took out the bins.
Legal Aid claims the cost of an application for leave to appeal a sentence is about $1700.
If the application is granted and an appeal is heard, this costs about $2500.
Mr Marsh, Legal Aid’s chief counsel, represented Hunter during his pre-sentence hearing before he was jailed for life with no parole.
The hearing before the Court of Appeal continues.
