Adrian Bayley appeal rejected because sentence appropriate, says court
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Version 0 of 1. The 35-year non-parole period given to Adrian Ernest Bayley was entirely within range given the circumstances of the murder and rape of Jill Meagher, an appeals court has found. Bayley was jailed for life with a non-parole period of 35 years earlier this year and had his application for leave to appeal the severity of the sentence rejected in September. On Monday, the Victorian court of appeal released its reasons for rejecting the appeal. Bayley's lawyers had argued that the judge who sentenced him, Justice Geoffrey Nettle, had been wrong to attribute two alternative motives for Bayley killing Meagher. The appeal judges, Chief Justice Marilyn Warren, Justice Paul Coghlan and Justice Marcia Neave said submissions supporting the argument took Nettle's comments out of context and focused on isolated language in the reasons for sentencing. In this case the sentence included the graphic description by the judge of dreadful and violent treatment of victims the applicant had raped in the course of his long criminal history, the judges said. Bayley's lawyers also argued that the judge had erred by placing Bayley's case in the same category as cases like Melbourne CBD killer Christopher Wayne Hudson and gangland killer Carl Williams. The judges also rejected that argument, saying that while some of the features present in those cases were not in the Bayley case: there were other features of the killing which made it particularly callous and which warranted condign punishment. They included the fact that it was a stranger rape and killing and that Bayley killed someone who was smaller and weaker than him. Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. |