Life imprisonment in Australia
{{Short description|none}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
Life imprisonment is the most severe criminal sentence available to the courts in Australia. Most cases attracting the sentence are murder. It is also imposed, albeit rarely, for sexual assault, manufacturing and trafficking commercial quantities of illicit drugs, and offences against the justice system and government security.
As of 2022, there are 418 prisoners in Australia serving a life sentence.{{cite web |title=Table 12, Sentenced Prisoners |url=https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/crime-and-justice/prisoners-australia/2022/1.%20Prisoner%20characteristics%2C%20Australia%20%28Tables%201%20to%2013%29.xlsx |website=Prisoners in Australia, 2022 |publisher=Australian Bureau of Statistics |access-date=25 February 2023}}
Offences and minimum terms
=Mandatory life imprisonment=
The death penalty in Australia fell into disuse in 1967, and between then and 1985, each jurisdiction abolished it and (in most cases) replaced it with mandatory life imprisonment.
Mandatory life imprisonment was subsequently abolished in New South Wales in 1982,'The history of sentencing for wilful murder and murder', Review of the Law of Homicide, Law Reform Commission of Western Australia https://www.lrc.justice.wa.gov.au/_files/P97-ch07.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190319144126/https://www.lrc.justice.wa.gov.au/_files/P97-ch07.pdf |date=19 March 2019 }} Victoria in 1986, Tasmania in 1995, and Western Australia in 2008,{{Cite web |date=2023-02-10 |title=Law Reform Commission of Western Australia |url=https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/law-reform-commission-of-western-australia |access-date=2023-10-09 |website=www.wa.gov.au |language=en}} though it was reintroduced in New South Wales in 2011 for the murder of a police officer.'Murder of Police Officers', LIAC Crime Library, State Library of New South Wales https://guides.sl.nsw.gov.au/c.php?g=671792&p=4729414 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190614121846/https://guides.sl.nsw.gov.au/c.php?g=671792&p=4729414 |date=14 June 2019 }}{{Cite web |title=CRIMES ACT 1900 - SECT 19B Mandatory life sentences for murder of police officers |url=http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/ca190082/s19b.html |access-date=2023-10-09 |website=www5.austlii.edu.au}}
When the death penalty was abolished in the Australian Capital Territory in 1973, there were no offences subject to mandatory life imprisonment; even so, life imprisonment can be imposed.
Life imprisonment remains mandatory for murder in South Australia, the Northern Territory, and Queensland.
=State and territories=
The criminal law and prisons are primarily administered by state and territory governments within Australia's federal system. As such, there is considerable divergence of which offences can attract life sentences across Australia.
The minimum non-parole period on a life sentence varies between jurisdictions, and between different crimes attracting the penalty. A life sentence in Western Australia, for a crime other than murder, attracts a minimum non-parole period of seven years, while the equivalent term in Queensland is 15 years. For murder, the minimum non-parole period on a life sentence in the Australian Capital Territory is 10 years, as it is in Western Australia (except when committed during an aggravated home burglary, in which case it is 15 years).
In South Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory, the minimum non-parole period for a life sentence for an offender convicted of murder is 20 years. In Queensland, if the offender has been convicted of the murder of a police officer, the minimum non-parole period is 25 years, and in the case of multiple/serial murder or where the offender has a prior conviction for murder, the minimum non-parole period is 30 years.{{Cite web|url=https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-2006-029#sec.181|title=View – Queensland Legislation – Queensland Government|website=www.legislation.qld.gov.au|access-date=4 July 2019|archive-date=13 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190713045352/https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-2006-029#sec.181|url-status=live}} In the Northern Territory, exceptional circumstances can reduce the minimum 20 year non-parole period, but conversely, the minimum non-parole for murder in circumstances of aggravation is 25 years. In South Australia, a guilty plea discount can reduce up to 25% of the minimum non-parole period of 20 years. Sentencing Act 1995 (NT) Section 53A (3) https://legislation.nt.gov.au/api/sitecore/Act/PDF_History?id=17757 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211017173728/https://legislation.nt.gov.au/api/sitecore/Act/PDF_History?id=17757 |date=17 October 2021 }}
The minimum non-parole term for a life sentence in Victoria is 30 years, unless a court considers it not in the interest of justice to set such a term.Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic) Section 11A 4(a) http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/download.cgi/cgi-bin/download.cgi/download/au/legis/vic/consol_act/sa1991121.txt {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190704094255/http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/download.cgi/cgi-bin/download.cgi/download/au/legis/vic/consol_act/sa1991121.txt |date=4 July 2019 }}
New South Wales is the only Australian state or territory to provide for a mandatory life without parole sentence, specifically where the offender has been convicted of the murder of a police officer.{{Cite web|url=https://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/#/view/act/1900/40/part3/div1/sec19b|title=NSW legislation|website=www.legislation.nsw.gov.au|access-date=4 July 2019|archive-date=3 December 2002|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021203110721/https://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/#/view/act/1900/40/part3/div1/sec19b|url-status=live}}
Following a string of high-profile ‘coward punch’ related deaths, in 2014 the Queensland government created a new offence of unlawful striking causing death, the maximum penalty for which is life imprisonment.{{Cite web|url=https://russolawyers.com.au/blog/what-are-the-one-punch-assault-laws-in-queensland/|title=What are the 'one punch' assault laws in Queensland?|date=18 October 2018|access-date=4 July 2019|archive-date=4 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190704094251/https://russolawyers.com.au/blog/what-are-the-one-punch-assault-laws-in-queensland/|url-status=live}}
The Criminal Code of Queensland,{{Cite web|url=https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-1899-009|title=View – Queensland Legislation – Queensland Government|website=www.legislation.qld.gov.au|access-date=4 July 2019|archive-date=4 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190704094247/https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-1899-009|url-status=live}} Western Australia{{Cite web |url=http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/download.cgi/cgi-bin/download.cgi/download/au/legis/wa/consol_act/ccaca1913252.txt |title=Archived copy |access-date=4 July 2019 |archive-date=4 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190704094256/http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/download.cgi/cgi-bin/download.cgi/download/au/legis/wa/consol_act/ccaca1913252.txt |url-status=live }} and the Northern Territory{{Cite web|url=https://legislation.nt.gov.au/Legislation/CRIMINAL-CODE-ACT-1983|title=Legislation Database|website=legislation.nt.gov.au|access-date=4 July 2019|archive-date=4 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190704094247/https://legislation.nt.gov.au/Legislation/CRIMINAL-CODE-ACT-1983|url-status=live}} also provide for life imprisonment for aircraft hijacking, aiding a suicide, terrorism and for perjuring to procure a conviction of an offence punishable by life imprisonment. The Criminal Code of the Northern Territory also provides for life imprisonment for terrorism and aircraft hijacking, as well as for most other serious violent offences.
Every state and territory except Tasmania provides for life imprisonment for some drug offences, though Tasmanians remain subject to Commonwealth law, which allows for life imprisonment for some drug offences. Primarily, these offences are manufacturing, trafficking or cultivating commercial quantities of controlled drugs and procuring children to do so, and in Queensland, supplying any quantity of particular drugs to children under 16.
Child sexual abuse offences can also attract a life sentence in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory. In Queensland, if child sexual abuse was committed by a repeat offender, a life sentence is mandatory and cannot be mitigated or varied under any law. Other offences capable of attracting a sentence of life imprisonment are rape, arson, incest, riot (under aggravated circumstances), piracy and destroying sea walls (Queensland) and treason (Tasmania).
In Queensland, the law also provides a maximum punishment of life imprisonment for aircraft hijacking, burglary or unlawful entry into a dwelling (under aggravated circumstances or by means of a break), armed robbery, violent robbery, attempt to commit armed robbery, attempt to commit violent robbery, conspiracy to bring false accusation against another where an innocent person is convicted and punished with life imprisonment for a crime he or she did not commit, rape, aggravated sexual assault, manslaughter, attempted murder, stupefying (poisoning or drugging) with the intent to commit another indictable offence, disabling with intent to commit an indictable offence (choking, suffocating or strangulating or rendering or attempted to render any person incapable of resistance), and most other serious violent offences.
The Australian Capital TerritoryCrimes (Sentencing) Act 2005 (ACT) section 133G(4) https://www.legislation.act.gov.au/View/a/2005-58/current/PDF/2005-58.PDF {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190704094250/https://www.legislation.act.gov.au/View/a/2005-58/current/PDF/2005-58.PDF |date=4 July 2019 }} and Victoria‘Young persons’ may not be sentenced to indefinite sentences http://www.judicialcollege.vic.edu.au/eManuals/VSM/6116.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190713022108/http://www.judicialcollege.vic.edu.au/eManuals/VSM/6116.htm |date=13 July 2019 }}Sentencing Act 1991 (Victoria) Section 18A(1) http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/sa1991121/s18a.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181231145754/http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/sa1991121/s18a.html |date=31 December 2018 }} are the only Australian jurisdictions to explicitly prohibit the imposition of life imprisonment without parole on children.
{{infobox3cols
| bodystyle = width:30em; max-width: 30%;
| abovestyle = background:#DCDCDC; font-size: 100%;
| above = Prisoners serving life sentences in Australia (2022)
| labelstyle = font-weight:normal;
| label1 = Most serious offence
| data1a = Number of prisoners
| label2 = Homicide offences
| data2a = 392
| label3 = Sexual assault offences
| data3a = 17
| label4 = Illicit drug offences
| data4a = 3
| label5 = Offences against justice
| data5a = 3
| label6 = Total
| data6a = 418
}}
=Commonwealth=
Under Commonwealth legislation, there are 68 offences that can attract life imprisonment.
Sixty three such offences are within the Criminal Code Act 1995,{{Cite web|url=http://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00152/Html/Volume_1|title=Criminal Code Act 1995|website=www.legislation.gov.au|access-date=7 March 2020|archive-date=31 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190531135610/https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00152/Html/Volume_1|url-status=live}} including the setting or placing of explosive and lethal devices; treason, treachery and espionage offences; terrorist acts, as well as preparing or planning terrorist acts and financing terrorism; incursions into foreign countries with the intention of engaging in hostile activity and related preparatory conduct (including accumulating weapons, providing or participating in training, giving or receiving goods and services and allowing use of buildings and vehicles to support such offences).
Further offences in the Criminal Code that allow for life imprisonment include crimes against humanity (genocide, war crimes), the murder of UN personnel and various drug offences including manufacturing, trafficking importing and exporting of commercial quantities of controlled drugs and plants, cultivating commercial quantities of controlled plants, and procuring children to facilitate similar drug offences.
The Crimes (Aviation) Act 1991{{Cite web|url=http://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2018C00156/Html/Text|title=Crimes (Aviation) Act 1991|first=Home|last=Affairs|website=www.legislation.gov.au|access-date=7 March 2020|archive-date=4 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190704094255/https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2018C00156/Html/Text|url-status=live}} provides for life imprisonment for hijacking offences, destruction of aircraft with intent to kill and prejudicing safe operation of an aircraft with intention to kill, and the Crimes Act 1914 provides for life imprisonment for piracy.{{Cite web|url=http://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00048/Html/Volume_1|title=Crimes Act 1914|first=AG; Home|last=Affairs|website=www.legislation.gov.au|access-date=7 March 2020|archive-date=23 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200523131527/https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00048/Html/Volume_1|url-status=live}}
Notable sentences
=With non-parole periods=
The longest overall non-parole period for a single murder is 45 years and six months, being served by Michael Barry Fyfe (South Australia), who stabbed fellow inmate Trevor Tilley in the kitchen of Yatala Prison in January 1995 while serving a {{frac|17|1|2}}-year sentence for other crimes.
The longest non-parole period imposed for a single murder is 35 years, being served by Melbourne CBD gunman Christopher Wayne Hudson (Victoria).{{Cite web|url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/35-years-jail-for-cbd-gunman-20080922-4leb.html|title=35 years' jail for CBD gunman|first=Reko|last=Rennie|date=22 September 2008|website=The Age|access-date=7 March 2020|archive-date=13 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190413172257/https://www.theage.com.au/national/35-years-jail-for-cbd-gunman-20080922-4leb.html|url-status=live}}
The longest non-parole period imposed on a woman is 32 years, being served by South Australian Angelika Gavare, who murdered and dismembered pensioner Vonne McGlynn in November 2008 for financial gain,{{Cite web|url=https://www.heraldsun.com.au/archive/news/pensioner-killer-angelika-gavare-jailed-for-32-years/news-story/92ca32c155861e6ff11da4254bbc4b18|title=Judge condemns pensioner killer|date=4 November 2011|website=www.heraldsun.com.au|access-date=7 March 2020|archive-date=17 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211017173726/https://www.heraldsun.com.au/archive/news/pensioner-killer-angelika-gavare-jailed-for-32-years-/news-story/92ca32c155861e6ff11da4254bbc4b18?nk=14ee886c1e67cb8f9d2d2a46c0a6654e-1634492246|url-status=live}} and Victorian Cai Xia Liao, who repeatedly stabbed Mai Mach and her four-year-old grandson Alistair Kwong with gardening shears in a vicious attack.{{Cite web|url=https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/true-crime-scene/jealous-exlover-cai-xia-liao-who-murdered-alistair-kwong-4-and-grandmother-in-revenge-is-jailed/news-story/fce8c962b1d6d9d34615154d133991b8|title=Twisted lover jailed for murders of boy, granny|date=17 December 2015|website=www.heraldsun.com.au|access-date=7 March 2020|archive-date=19 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171119010158/http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/true-crime-scene/jealous-exlover-cai-xia-liao-who-murdered-alistair-kwong-4-and-grandmother-in-revenge-is-jailed/news-story/fce8c962b1d6d9d34615154d133991b8|url-status=live}}
Notable prisoners serving at least one life imprisonment with specified non-parole period:
=Without the possibility of parole=
In the most extreme cases, the sentencing judge will refuse to fix a non-parole period, which means that the prisoner will spend the rest of their life in prison. Notable prisoners serving at least one sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole include:
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Name
! State ! Conviction ! Sentence ! Age at sentence ! data-sort-type="isoDate" | Date of sentence ! Notes |
|---|
| Lian Bin (Robert) Xie
|NSW |Murder ×5 |5× life imprisonment |53 |February 2017 |
| Vincent Stanford
|NSW |Murder; aggravated sexual assault |Life imprisonment plus 15 years |26 |October 2016 |
| Roger Dean
|NSW |Murder ×11; recklessly causing grievous bodily harm ×8; larceny as a clerk ×2 |11× life imprisonment plus 21 years |37 |August 2013 |
| Bronson Blessington
| NSW | Murder; abduction; rape; robbery ×2 | Life imprisonment plus 25 years* | 16; 14 at time of offending | September 1990 | *When sentencing, the trial judge recommended Blessington never be released.R v Jamieson; R v Elliott; R v Blessington (1992) 60 A Crim R While this order had no legally binding effect at that time, legislative changes passed through New South Wales parliament since have effectively extinguished any possibility of Blessington receiving a determinate sentence or release on parole.Views of the Human Rights Committee under article 5, paragraph 4, of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (112th session) concerning Communication No. 1968/2010, UN Human Rights Committee https://www.ag.gov.au/RightsAndProtections/HumanRights/Documents/BlessingtonandElliotvAustralia-Viewsof22October2014.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927050105/http://www.ag.gov.au/RightsAndProtections/HumanRights/Documents/BlessingtonandElliotvAustralia-Viewsof22October2014.pdf |date=27 September 2015 }} This is despite Australia being signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which explicitly prohibits imprisonment without the possibility of release as a punishment for children.Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 37 (a) https://www.unhcr.org/en-au/protection/children/50f941fe9/united-nations-convention-rights-child-crc.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190710073103/https://www.unhcr.org/en-au/protection/children/50f941fe9/united-nations-convention-rights-child-crc.html |date=10 July 2019 }} |
| Matthew Elliott
| NSW | Murder; abduction; rape ×2; robbery ×2 | Life imprisonment plus 25 years* | 18; 16 at time of offending | September 1990 | *When sentencing, the trial judge recommended Elliott never be released. While this order had no legally binding effect at that time, legislative changes passed through New South Wales parliament since have effectively extinguished any possibility of Elliott receiving a determinate sentence or release on parole. This is despite Australia being signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which explicitly prohibits imprisonment without the possibility of release as a punishment for children. |
| Phuong Ngo
| NSW | Murder | Life imprisonment | 43 | November 2001 |
| Glen McNamara
| NSW | Murder; supplying of a prohibited drug in an amount not less than a large commercial quantity | Life imprisonment plus 12 years | 57 | September 2016 |
| Roger Rogerson
| NSW | Murder; supplying of a prohibited drug in an amount not less than a large commercial quantity | Life imprisonment plus 12 years | 75 | September 2016 |
| Mark Valera
| NSW | Murder ×2 | 2× life imprisonment | 21 | December 2000 |
| Sef Gonzales
| NSW | Murder ×3 | 3× life imprisonment | 24 | September 2004 |
| Andrew Garforth
| NSW | Murder | Life imprisonment plus 30 years | 29 | July 1993 |
| Crespin Adanguidi
| NSW | Murder ×3 | 3× life imprisonment | 27 | June 2005 |
| Ramzi Aouad
| NSW | Murder ×2 | 2× life imprisonment | 25 | November 2006 | *Originally sentenced to three terms of life without parole, for three murders;Regina v Darwiche & Ors [2006] NSWSC 1167 https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nsw/NSWSC/2006/1167.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180508144453/http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nsw/NSWSC/2006/1167.html |date=8 May 2018 }} successfully appealed against one murder conviction in April 2011Aouad and El-Zeyat v R [2011] NSWCCA 61 http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nsw/NSWCCA/2011/61.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190706015944/http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nsw/NSWCCA/2011/61.html |date=6 July 2019 }} |
| Allan Baker
| NSW | Murder; conspiracy to murder; malicious wounding with intent to prevent lawful apprehension ×2 | Life imprisonment plus 55 years hard labour | 26 | June 1974 http://www6.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nsw/NSWCCA/2002/184.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190706015911/http://www6.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nsw/NSWCCA/2002/184.html |date=6 July 2019 }} |
| Kevin Crump
| NSW | Murder; conspiracy to murder; malicious wounding with intent to prevent lawful apprehension ×2 | Life imprisonment plus 55 years hard labour | 25 | June 1974 | Reduced to one term of life without parole plus 55 years on appeal in 1997 |
| John Travers
| NSW | Murder; taking with intent to hold for advantage; assault; robbery; wounding; inflicting actual bodily harm with the intent to have sexual intercourse; stealing a car | Life imprisonment plus 50 years | 20 | July 1987 |
| Michael Murphy
| NSW | Murder; taking with intent to hold for advantage; assault; robbery; wounding; inflicting actual bodily harm with the intent to have sexual intercourse; stealing a car | Life imprisonment plus 50 years | 34 | July 1987 |
| Gary Murphy
| NSW | Murder; taking with intent to hold for advantage; assault; robbery; wounding; inflicting actual bodily harm with the intent to have sexual intercourse; stealing a car | Life imprisonment plus 50 years | 29 | July 1987 |
| Leslie Murphy
| NSW | Murder; taking with intent to hold for advantage; assault; robbery; wounding; inflicting actual bodily harm with the intent to have sexual intercourse; stealing a car | Life imprisonment plus 48 years | 23 | July 1987 |
| Michael Murdoch
| NSW | Murder; taking with intent to hold for advantage; assault; robbery; wounding; inflicting actual bodily harm with the intent to have sexual intercourse; stealing a car | Life imprisonment plus 50 years | 20 | July 1987 |
| Malcolm Baker
| NSW | Murder ×6 | 6× life imprisonment | 45 | August 1993 | R v Malcolm George Baker (Unreported, Supreme Court of NSW, Newman J, 6 August 1993) |
| Samuel Boyd
| NSW | Murder ×4; wounding with intent to murder | 4× life imprisonment plus 25 years | 29 | January 1985 | The life sentence for the conviction of wounding with intent to murder was reduced to 25 years on appeal in 1994{{citation needed|date=July 2019}}Boyd v R (No. 3) [2017] NSWSC 863 http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nsw/NSWSC/2017/863.html?context=1;query=samuel%20leonard%20boyd;mask_path=au/cases/nsw/NSWSC {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211017173749/http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nsw/NSWSC/2017/863.html?context=1%3Bquery%3Dsamuel+leonard+boyd%3Bmask_path%3Dau%2Fcases%2Fnsw%2FNSWSC |date=17 October 2021 }} |
| John Cribb
| NSW | Murder ×3; rape ×3; kidnapping ×2; false imprisonment ×2; armed robbery ×9; escaping lawful custody | 3× life imprisonment plus 45 years | 28 | May 1979 |
| Adnan Darwiche
| NSW | Murder ×2; attempted murder; discharging a firearm with intent to do grievous bodily harm | 2× life imprisonment plus 26 years | 30 | November 2006 |
| John Glover
| NSW | Murder ×6; attempted murder; robbery with wounding; robbery; indecent assault ×4; assault | 6× Life imprisonment | 58 | November 1990 | Deceased; died by suicide September 2005’John Glover’, The Crime Web http://www.geocities.ws/karamppp/john_glover.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211017173732/https://matrixstar.net/InC28z6bBv7xxKUucYySy72W9Mhuw2MxaJfDN6ISGf4/?cid=2a9a57b3e979013ed6c633335d2e49c6&sid=13729932 |date=17 October 2021 }} |
| Matthew Harris
| NSW | Murder ×3; armed robbery | 2× life imprisonment plus 40 years | 31 | December 1999* | *Originally sentenced to 40 years for each count of murder and 3 years for armed robbery with a non-parole period of 25 years; sentence increased on appeal in December 2000:R v Harris [2000] NSWCCA 469 http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nsw/NSWCCA/2000/469.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190706015933/http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nsw/NSWCCA/2000/469.html |date=6 July 2019 }} |
| Michael Kanaan
| NSW | Murder ×3; malicious wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm ×4; discharging firearm with intent to prevent lawful apprehension; accessory to the fact after malicious wounding | 3× life imprisonment plus 50 years and 4 months | 26 | October 2001 |
| Lindsay Robert Rose
| NSW | Murder ×5; robbery ×2; conspiracy to pervert the course of justice; kidnapping; robbery while armed; maliciously destroying property by fire; malicious wounding; larceny; supplying a prohibited drug | 5× life imprisonment plus 39 years | 43 | September 1998 |
| Naseam El-Zeyat
| NSW | Murder ×2* | 2× life imprisonment* | 26 | November 2006 | *Originally sentenced to three terms of Life imprisonment, for three murders; successfully appealed against one murder conviction in April 2011 |
| Ivan Milat
| NSW | Murder ×7; attempted murder; false imprisonment; robbery | 7× life imprisonment plus 18 years | 51 | July 1996 |
| Katherine Knight
| NSW | Murder | Life imprisonment | 46 | November 2001 |
| Mark Lewis
| NSW | Murder ×2 | Life imprisonment plus 18 years | 58 | June 2000 http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nsw/NSWCCA/2001/448.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190706015900/http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nsw/NSWCCA/2001/448.html |date=6 July 2019 }} |
| Leonard Warwick
| NSW | Murder ×3; exploding an explosive device which destroys or damages a building with intent to murder ×2; placing an explosive substance into a vehicle with intent to murder; maliciously placing an explosive substance near a building with intent to damage the building; maliciously, by an explosion, causing grievous bodily harm ×13 | 3× life imprisonment plus 100 years | 73 | September 2020 | R v Warwick (No. 94) [2020] NSWSC 1168 https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/174423ad82246e9381a9a654 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201204235929/https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/174423ad82246e9381a9a654 |date=4 December 2020 }}{{cite news |last1=McKinnell |first1=Jamie |title=Family Court bomber Leonard Warwick sentenced to life in prison |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-03/family-court-bomber-leonard-warwick-jailed-for-life/12624080 |access-date=3 September 2020 |work=ABC News |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=3 September 2020 |archive-date=3 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200903030210/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-03/family-court-bomber-leonard-warwick-jailed-for-life/12624080 |url-status=live }} |
| Julian Knight
| Victoria | Murder ×7; attempted murder ×46 | 7× life imprisonment, non-parole period 27 years. | 21 | November 1989 |
|
| Michael Cardamone
| Victoria | Murder; incitement to murder; breaching a prescribed condition of parole | Life imprisonment plus 8 years and three months | 50 | August 2017 |
| Leslie Camilleri
| Victoria | Murder ×3 | 2× life imprisonment plus 28 years | 29 | April 1999 | In December 2013, Camilleri was sentenced to a further 28 years prison for his third murder conviction {{Cite web|url=https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/vic/VSC/1999/184.html?context=1;query=Leslie+Camilleri;mask_path=au/cases/vic/VSC|title=R v Camilleri [1999] VSC 184 (27 April 1999)|access-date=17 October 2021|archive-date=17 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211017173816/https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/vic/VSC/1999/184.html?context=1%3Bquery%3DLeslie+Camilleri%3Bmask_path%3Dau%2Fcases%2Fvic%2FVSC|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/vic/VSC/2013/676.html?context=1;query=Leslie+Camilleri+;mask_path=au/cases/vic/VSC|title=The Queen v Camilleri [2013] VSC 676 (5 December 2013)|access-date=17 October 2021|archive-date=17 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211017173736/https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/vic/VSC/2013/676.html?context=1%3Bquery%3DLeslie+Camilleri+%3Bmask_path%3Dau%2Fcases%2Fvic%2FVSC|url-status=live}} |
| Ashley Coulston
| Victoria | Murder ×3; armed robbery ×2; false imprisonment ×2; recklessly endangering life ×2; intentionally causing injury; assault; using a firearm to resist arrest | 3× life imprisonment plus 7 years | 38 | September 1995 |
| Bandali Debs
| Victoria | Murder ×4 | 4× life imprisonment | 49 | February 2003 | Sentenced to two life sentences in February 2003; a further life sentence in June 2007; and another in February 2012 DPP v Debs & Roberts [2003] VSC 30 http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/vic/VSC/2003/30.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190630042325/http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/vic/VSC/2003/30.html |date=30 June 2019 }}R v Debs [2007] VSC 220 http://www6.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/vic/VSC/2007/220.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190630041341/https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/vic/VSC/2007/220.html |date=30 June 2019 }}R v DEBS [2012] NSWSC 119 https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nsw/NSWSC/2012/119.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190630040823/https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nsw/NSWSC/2012/119.html |date=30 June 2019 }} |
| Raymond Edmunds
| Victoria | Murder ×2; rape ×6; attempted rape ×2; indecent assault ×3; assault causing bodily harm ×2; attempt to escape lawful custody and false imprisonment | 2× life imprisonment plus 54 years 5 months | 42 | April 1986 | Sentenced to 2× life plus 30 years for two murders and rapes in October 1986;’Life for Mr Stinky’, Shapparton News https://www.pressreader.com/australia/shepparton-news/20110407/282230892230718 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190706015900/https://www.pressreader.com/australia/shepparton-news/20110407/282230892230718 |date=6 July 2019 }} received an additional 12 months for attempted prison escape in 1992, and 23 years and 5 months for further rapes in 2019 |
| Paul Steven Haigh
| Victoria | Murder ×6, armed robbery | 6× life imprisonment + 60 years | 23 | November 1980 | Haigh was convicted of the murder of an inmate in 1993 and sentenced to a further term of life imprisonment with a minimum term of 15 yearsR v Haigh [2009] VSC 185 https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/vic/VSC/2009/185.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190706015910/https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/vic/VSC/2009/185.html |date=6 July 2019 }} |
| Peter Dupas
| Victoria | Murder ×3 | 3× life imprisonment | 47 | August 2000 | First life imprisonment sentence imposed in August 2000; second in August 2004; the third in August 2007R v Dupas [2000] VSC 356 http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/vic/VSC/2000/356.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190706015859/http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/vic/VSC/2000/356.html |date=6 July 2019 }}R v Dupas [2004] VSC 281 http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/vic/VSC/2004/281.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190706015922/http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/vic/VSC/2004/281.html |date=6 July 2019 }}R v Dupas [2010] VSC 540 http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/vic/VSC/2010/540.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190706015900/http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/vic/VSC/2010/540.html |date=6 July 2019 }} |
| Robert Lowe
| Victoria | Murder; kidnapping | Life imprisonment plus 15 years | 57 | December 1994 |
| Stanley Taylor
| Victoria | Murder; intentionally causing serious injury ×2; causing an explosion; burglary; car theft; theft | Life imprisonment plus 13 years | 50 | August 1988 | Deceased; died October 2016R v Taylor, Stanley Brian; Reed, Peter Michael; Minogue, Craig William John & Minogue, Rodney Joseph [Russell Street bombing] [1989] VicSC 284 http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/vic/VicSC/1989/284.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211017173737/http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/vic/VicSC/1989/284.html |date=17 October 2021 }} |
| John Bunting
| South Australia | Murder ×11 | 11× life imprisonment | 37 | October 2003 |
| Robert Wagner
| South Australia | Murder ×10 | 10× life imprisonment | 31 | October 2003 | Wagner's application for a non-parole period to be set was denied in May 2019’Snowtown killer Robert Wagner denied bid for non-parole date to be set’, ABC News https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-09/snowtown-killer-robert-wagner-parole-bid-decision/11095342 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190522171004/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-09/snowtown-killer-robert-wagner-parole-bid-decision/11095342 |date=22 May 2019 }} |
| Mark Rust
| South Australia | Murder ×2; rape; assault; gross indecency | 2× life imprisonment plus 12 years | 39 | April 2004 |
| Rebecca Mahony
| QLD | Attempted murder; rape ×13; indecent treatment of a child under 16 ×6; assault occasioning bodily harm while armed and in company ×3; unlawfully procuring a child under 16 years to commit and indecent act; taking a child for immoral purposes; making child exploitation material; deprivation of liberty; common assault; stupefying in order to commit an indictable offence; torture; unlawfully wounding another | 2× life imprisonment plus 80 years | 32 | December 2011 [2012] QCA 366 https://www.queenslandjudgments.com.au/case/id/79451 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190710104751/https://www.queenslandjudgments.com.au/case/id/79451 |date=10 July 2019 }} Mahoney's co-conspirator Andrew Shenfield was initially sentenced to life without parole, but his sentence was reduced to 18 years prison on appeal. Mahoney also appealed her sentence, but was denied and the original sentence upheld. ’Couple jailed over rape and torture of schoolgirl’, ABC News https://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-12/couple-jailed-over-rape-and-torture-of-schoolgirl/3726676 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161030163214/http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-12/couple-jailed-over-rape-and-torture-of-schoolgirl/3726676 |date=30 October 2016 }}{{cite web |title=Judge weeps as couple who raped and degraded girl, 15, jailed for life |url=https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/judge-weeps-as-couple-who-raped-and-degraded-girl-15-jailed-for-life/news-story/d60e93f93b3f6c9bc15e37078242942b |website=couriermail.com.au |date=12 December 2011}}{{Cite news|date=2012-12-21|title='Horror' rapist has life sentence reduced|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-12-21/sentence-reduced-for-man-convicted-of-girl27s-rape2c-torture/4440774|access-date=2021-04-03|newspaper=ABC News|language=en-AU|archive-date=18 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200918134618/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-12-21/sentence-reduced-for-man-convicted-of-girl27s-rape2c-torture/4440774|url-status=live}}{{Additional citation needed|date=July 2019}} |
| Barrie Watts
| QLD | Murder, rape, abduction | Life imprisonment plus 18 years | 37 | February 1990 void of morality: judge', The Canberra Times https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/131177403?searchTerm=sian%20kingi&searchLimits=l-format=Article |
| Dennis Sore
| QLD | Murder | Life imprisonment | 43 | February 2023 | 'Dennis Sore sentenced to life in prison for murdering Samantha Bong in Townsville', ABC News https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-24/dennis-sore-life-prison-sentence-murder-sister-townsville/102017966 |
| Anthony Harvey
| WA | Murder ×5 | 5× life imprisonment | 25 | July 2019 | THE STATE OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA -vHARVEY [2019] WASC 261 https://ecourts.justice.wa.gov.au/eCourtsPortal/Decisions/DownloadDecision/0529cecf-bff5-4bf5-ad19-33a4af8d09cc?unredactedVersion=False Harvey is the first person in Western Australia to receive a 'never to be released' order.Bedford mass murderer Anthony Harvey gets historic sentence for stabbing his family to death https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-19/perth-mass-killer-anthony-harvey-never-to-be-released-from-jail/11312864 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190719052742/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-19/perth-mass-killer-anthony-harvey-never-to-be-released-from-jail/11312864 |date=19 July 2019 }} |
| Benjamin Hoffmann
| NT | Murder ×3; manslaughter; recklessly endangering life ×3; threatening to kill; drug possession | 3× life imprisonment plus 15 years | 48 | October 2022 |
| Martin Leach
| NT | Murder ×2; rape; assaulting a police officer | 3× life imprisonment plus 3 months | 25 | May 1984 |
| Andrew Albury
| NT | Murder | Life imprisonment | 22 | July 1984 |
| William Turner
| NT | Various sexual assaults, including sexual assaults against children | Indefinite sentence plus nine years | 52 | May 2008 |
| Martin Bryant
| Tasmania | Murder ×35; attempted murder ×20; grievous bodily harm ×3; wounding ×8; aggravated assault ×4; unlawful setting fire to property; arson | 35× life imprisonment plus 1,652 years | 29 | November 1996 |
| Allen Thompson
| ACT | Murder ×6 | 6× life imprisonment | 24 | October 1984 | ’Crimes warrant most severe penalty: judge’, The Canberra Times https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/136924018/15962038 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190706015900/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/136924018/15962038 |date=6 July 2019 }}’Thompson found guilty of 1981 murders’, The Canberra Times https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/118204990 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190706015902/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/118204990 |date=6 July 2019 }} |
| Abuzar Sultani
| NSW | Murder ×3 | 3× Life imprisonment | 32 | December 2021 |
| Siar Munshizada
| NSW | Murder ×3 | 3× Life imprisonment | 33 | December 2021 |
| Patricia Byers
|QLD |Murder, attempted murder |Life imprisonment plus 12 years | |1999 |
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20090802230839/http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/tandi19.html Life imprisonment in Australia before 1986]
{{World topic|Life imprisonment in|noredlinks=y|title=Life imprisonment}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Life Imprisonment (Australia)}}