Armed robber who killed police officer Damian Leeding gets life

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/08/life-sentence-for-armed-robber

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The man who gunned down the Gold Coast detective Damian Leeding has been sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum of 20 years without parole.

Phillip Graeme Abell will not be eligible for parole until 29 May 2031, a supreme court judge ruled on Tuesday.

The 41-year-old was sentenced before a packed room in the Brisbane supreme court. Justice James Douglas said Abell had shown no remorse and had a significant criminal history.

"Your killing of a brave young police officer acting in the course of his duty has grievously affected his young family, his colleagues and the wider community," Douglas said.

Abell showed no emotion when his sentence was handed down.

Last month Abell and his accomplice, Donna Lee McAvoy, were found guilty of murdering Detective Senior Constable Leeding in 2011.

Abell shot the 35-year-old detective in the head with a sawn-off shotgun after he and McAvoy were disturbed as they held up the Pacific Pines Tavern.

Leeding died in hospital three days later, leaving a wife and two young children.

McAvoy, 39, and getaway driver Benjamin Ernest Power, 39, are to be sentenced at a later date.

Power has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Prosecutors asked for a minimum non-parole period of 20 to 25 years for Abell.

Crown prosecutor Todd Fuller used convicted triple murderer Max Sica's sentence as an example of one that exceeded the minimum mandatory non-parole period of 15 years for murder.

Douglas said Abell's criminal history, his lack of remorse and his killing of a police officer in the line of duty warranted a longer non-parole period.

The court heard Abell had been jailed twice for two previous armed robberies and was awaiting sentencing for an armed home invasion in 2010.

Abell had shot a high-powered firearm through a wall when robbing a bank in the 1990s, Fuller told the court.

He and a co-offender had terrified three people including a three-year-old in the 2010 home invasion in Carina, in Brisbane's south, using the same shotgun that killed Leeding.

Leeding's mother and two sisters read victim impact statements in court.

His mother, Julie Waters, said she had suffered post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety since her son's death and had isolated herself from the world.

His killers' trial had also taken a toll on her. "To see the offenders who took my Damian's life for a paltry sum of money is overwhelming," she said through tears.

His sisters also cried when they told the court how their lives had been turned upside down. "I lost my ... best friend that night and no one and nothing will ever replace him," one said.

Two Pacific Pines Tavern staff told the court they suffered anxiety and post-traumatic stress after the armed robbery.

A number of police, including Leeding's police partner, were in court. His wife and two young children were not present.

Douglas sentenced Abell to 18 years' prison for the armed robbery and three years for deprivation of liberty, to be served concurrently with the murder sentence.

He ordered the two and a half years Abell had already been in custody be taken into account.

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