Family of murder victim 'totally let down' by court
The grieving family of a man murdered by an ice addict is furious his killer’s sentence will not be increased.
Dermott O’Toole died in his wife’s arms after being stabbed in a botched robbery in his Mornington Peninsula jewellery store.
Convicted killer Gavin Perry was on parole and high on ice when he held up the store in Hastings in 2013.
He was given a shorter jail term because the court ruled he had not intended to kill Mr O’Toole when he staged the armed robbery. That reason wasn’t good enough for the victim’s wife, Bridget.
“How can it be said that one murder is less than another murder? You know, somebody who committed over 200 crimes?” she told 7 News.
On Friday the court agreed that the sentence “failed to reflect the degree of criminality of Perry’s conduct".
In a statement, the court heard that "the judge sentenced Perry by reference to current sentencing practices", but made a proposal for future murder trials: "Sentencing standards for statutory murder must be increased to properly reflect the gravity of the offence.”
The O’Toole family said they were grateful that an impact was made on the law but couldn’t hide their disappointment that Perry’s sentence remained untouched.
“Totally let down, totally let down right from the start of the whole process." Mrs O’Toole said.
“Nothing will bring Dermott back. I'm just pleased that we put the fight in to change the law and we've succeeded in changing the law."
“To be honest, I'm pretty disappointed that the law, in acknowledging the errors made in the past, hasn't got the capacity to fix it today,” the couple’s son, Christian, said.
Perry will serve his original jail term of 23 years.
News break – July 1
