A North-West man who was sentenced to 20 years' jail for trying to burn himself and his two children alive by creating an explosion in a car has appeared in the Court of Criminal Appeal in Hobart this morning.
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Paul Brian Edward Connelly, 50, of Burnie, was found guilty of two counts of attempted murder in December 2013.
Connelly had told the children they would have a picnic in the car, and put two gas bottles in the rear of the vehicle and ignited them after the gas leaked out.
Both children received full thickness burns to up to 30 per cent of their bodies and spent months in the Royal Children's Hospital, and have had multiple operations.
At the time of his sentence, Chief Justice Alan Blow said Connelly decided to kill the boys aged 5 and 8 in order to spite his wife.
Connelly is appealing his sentence, which had a non-parole period of 15 years.
His lawyer, Tamara Jago, said the sentence was ''disproportionate to the appellants offending on a whole and demonstrated error''.
Ms Jago said the non-parole period was ''manifestly excessive'' and the head sentence was ''exceptionally heavy''.
Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Darryl Coates said Connelly's crimes were ''horrendous'' and he had shown no remorse.
''It could not be said that this was outside the range of permissible sentences in this case,'' Mr Coates said.
The full bench of the Court of Criminal Appeal adjourned to make a decision at a later date.
