The Riverside drug trafficker who brutally murdered and then callously beheaded and dismembered Jake Anderson-Brettner at his own home has appealed against his 32-year jail term claiming it was excessive.
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But Jack-Harrison Vincent Sadler, 29, did not appeal his conviction for the murder.
During the Supreme Court trial Sadler gave a fabricated account saying that the murder was committed by one of three unidentified Victorian drug dealers who turned up at his house and fatally shot Mr Anderson-Brettner.
Sadler was unanimously found guilty by the jury after a three-week trial.
Justice Robert Pearce handed down the 32-year jail sentence, but set a non-parole period of 20 years which could have resulted in Sadler being freed in 17 years.
The appeal has been filed on his behalf by Tasmania Legal Aid.
It was on the grounds that "the learned Judge erred in law in that he imposed a sentence which was manifestly excessive in all of the circumstances of the case".
Sadler's appeal would be heard by the Court of Criminal Appeal, a panel of three Supreme Court Judges.
Research released by the Sentencing Advisory Council in 2019 found that just 14.6 per cent of offender appeals against sentences were successful - seven out of 48 appeals.
Appeals by the Crown against sentence were successful in 80 per cent of cases -16 out of 20 appeals.
Justice Pearce said in his sentencing comments that it was a planned, intentional, execution-style killing.
Sadler showed no mercy when Mr Anderson-Brettner pleaded for his life saying "please man stop, please man don't".
After shooting him three times with a 9 millimetre pistol Sadler set about chopping up his victim with an axe and a knife using a method suggested by the song Dead Body Disposal.
"The dismemberment was a particularly gruesome exercise," he said.
The removal of his head, legs and arms was achieved in a most crude and violent manner.
- Justice Robert Pearce
Sadler and his then partner Gemma Clark disposed of body parts in wheelie bins around Launceston and the torso at The Sideling.
They embarked on a major coverup which included cleaning the house and hiding weapons.
Justice Pearce said the mutilation and disposal of the body substantially aggravated what was already a murder in the most serious category.
"Mr Anderson-Brettner was not only intentionally killed in a calculating and cruel way, but his body was then subjected to gross indignity," he said.
Justice Pearce said there was a singular absence of any expression or demonstration of remorse.
However, he stopped short of imposing a sentence "for the term of his natural life" saying Sadler had no previous demonstrated propensity for violence and was not incapable of rehabilitation.
He said it was a matter for the Parole Board on whether Sadler was released after the 20 years.
"The sentence must serve to administer the punishment which Mr Sadler deserves and to protect the community from the risk he may pose," he said.
"It must also vindicate the victim and sufficiently represent public condemnation of the intentional taking of a life."
Sadler's sentence compares with a life sentence handed out to Shannon Duffy for the murder of Jarrod Leigh Turner.
Duffy, who received an 18-year non-parole period, shot his friend in the head with a shotgun when he was urinating beside a country road and left him for dead.
I am of the opinion that this case does fall within the worst category of murder. It was a planned intentional and cold blooded killing committed by a person with a demonstrated propensity to engage in violent criminal conduct.
- Justice Michael Brett said during that case.
Offenders who are sentenced to life in prison without parole stay in prison until they die.
Recent research about 22 murders between 2008 and 2016 showed the sentence for murder to be 22 years and four months and the minimum sentence was 18 years with a 10 year non-parole period.
There were five double murders with a minimum term of 32 years and a maximum of 48 years.
In 2009 Mark John Adams was jailed for the term of his natural life with no parole for his second murder. Both were stabbings of women committed in 1986 and 2007.
Kalangadoo man Stephen Standage was sentenced to 48 years' jail with a non-parole period of 24 years for the murders of Ronald Jarvis in 1992 and John Thorn in 2006.
"I am quite satisfied that these were both pre-meditated cold blooded murders of people who trusted you, and that they were committed for financial gain. They were therefore among the worst types of murder," Justice Stephen Estcourt said during his sentencing.
Chief Justice Alan Blow sentenced Mark Anthony Mason to prison for the term of his natural life with a non-parole period of 17-and-a-half-years for the murder of a woman and causing grievous bodily harm to another.
"This was a case of domestic violence in which a defenceless woman was deliberately killed because of sexual jealousy. It also involved a pointless attack on the murdered woman's friend, resulting in life-threatening injuries and the infliction of permanent disabilities," he said.
Chief Justice Blow also sentenced Darren Michael Dobson to the term of his natural life with a 14-year non-parole period for the murder of Jodi Eaton at Gagebrook near Hobart.
"His tendency to commit serious crimes of violence against women and his callous behaviour in hiding and disposing of the body during the 48 hours after the killing do place this case in the worst category of murder cases," Chief Justice Blow said.
Justice Pearce jailed Marco Daniel Rusterholz to 45 years' jail with a non-parole period of 25 years for the murders of Janine Hallam and Joshua Newman in 2015 in Ravenswood.
"These murders are most serious of examples of the crime. The murder of Miss Hallam was a pre-meditated and cold blooded execution. I am not satisfied that the murder of Mr Newman was planned. He happened to be present and was intentionally killed in a brutal and callous fashion," Justice Pearce said.
He also jailed William Adair Rothwell and Jacob Michael Brennan to 26 years' jail for the murder of Billy Ray Waters with a non-parole period of 15 years saying it was a planned and intentional killing which was a betrayal of Mr Water's friendship.
"The carrying out of the murder involved extreme, cruel and prolonged violence, Mr Waters was subjected to suffering. The attack and then the fatal wound were inflicted when he was pleading for help. He was shot without mercy," Justice Pearce said.
"Both men took steps to conceal the murder. Mr Water's body was dragged into the bush and left hidden. "It was a crude attempt but it was almost two weeks before his body was found."
In 2004 Justice Blow sentenced John Frederick Duggan for the term of his natural life and ordered that he not be eligible for parole for 23 years for the murder of a 79-year-old man near Hobart.
His co-accused Christopher John Watt got 32 years' jail with a non-parole period of 20 years.
"This was one of the worst types of murder. It involved the invasion of a citizen's home by three aggressive and drunken men who were intent on robbing him and willing to inflict very serious violence if he resisted," he said.
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