Nine years jail for fatal pub push
UPDATE: Former bikie associate Stefan Schmidt has been jailed for nine years for killing a musician by pushing him put of an upstairs window of the Ocean Beach Hotel.
Schmidt was earlier today acquitted of murdering Andy Marshall in May 2011, but was convicted of his manslaughter after a trial in front of a judge alone. He will be eligible for parole in May 2018.
Justice John McKechnie said in sending the 28 year-old to prison for for nine years, backdated to May 2011 he was acknowledging an "appalling crime".
"It is as serious a case of unlawful killing as one could imagine," Justice McKechnie said.
Mr Schmidt had been convicted of murder after an earlier jury trial, but won an appeal against his conviction in a unanimous decision delivered by three judges of the Court of Appeal last year.
A retrial without a jury was ordered, which was held in front of Supreme Court Justice John McKechnie.
Justice McKechnie cleared Mr Schmidt of murder, but found him guilty of manslaughter.
"I cannot exclude as a reasonable possibility that this was an angry act done by the accused without his adverting to the possible consequences," justice McKechnie wrote.
In relaying the impact of the crime on their family, Mr Marshall's parents Alan and Wendy both spoke emotionally in court of the tragic loss of their son.
"I am richer for having had Andy in my life ... The world is poorer for having lost such a beautiful person," Mr Marshall said.
"It is beyond pain."
His mother Wendy said the violence that had killed her son was horrifying, unprovoked and brutal.
"Sitting through two trials and listening to how Andy was killed over and over again is like descending into the pit of hell," Mrs Marshall said.
It was also revealed that Schmidt had a previous assault conviction for king-hitting a man outside a Northbridge nightclub in 2005, which left the victim with a fractured skull.
Mr Schmidt had pleaded guilty to manslaughter at the start of the trial, but prosecutors still decided to pursue the murder charge.
They described how Mr Schmidt, in a "fit of rage" had pushed Mr Marshall so hard he had crashed through the window and fell five metres to the floor below.
But in his defence, Mr Schmidt said he had not intended to push Mr Marshall through the window when he shoved him.
CCTV footage from inside the hotel of the build up to the push was shown to the court, as was Mr Marshall landing on the footpath outside.
Mr Schmidt can then be seen walking out of the hotel, glancing towards Mr Marshall's seriously injured body, before disappearing.
Mr Schmidt, a former rugby league player, then said he left the scene because of fears he might be mob attacked by other customers at the hotel.
