Killer to get early release

Illawarra Mercury ^ | 10 April 2004 | By ERIN O'DWYER

[BlackVeil]

ELEVEN years ago Austin Allan Hughes and his partner bashed her six-year-old son to death with a hammer in an horrific attack that involved more than 100 blows.

Now both murderers will be released from jail early after a judge cut Hughes' sentence yesterday to match the mother's.

The pair will be eligible for release in 2007 - the same year the son would have been 20.

Hughes, then 20 and living in the Shoalhaven, pleaded guilty to murdering his stepson in August 1993. The boy's mother, then 25, also pleaded guilty despite both partners initially lying to police about the boy's death.

The sentencing court heard that during the attack lasting two hours, Hughes placed a telephone book on the six-year-old's head and hit the book several times with a hammer. He then handed the weapon to the boy's mother who delivered several more blows.

The couple then bashed the boy's head against a wall, and his mother kicked him when he fell to the ground.

A post-mortem examination revealed the boy suffered more than 100 blows to the head. Emergency doctors had described the injuries as among the worst they had seen. In 1998 the mother's sentence was reduced on appeal to 19 years, with a non-parole period of 14 years.

Yesterday, the NSW Court of Appeal agreed that Hughes should serve an identical sentence and quashed his 21-year term.

Justice Margaret Beazley described the attack as "horrific".

However she said that Hughes and the boy's mother had been equally responsible for the crime. Justice Beazley said the mother - who cannot be named to protect her four other children - had relied on fresh psychiatric reports to win her appeal.

The reports showed she had been suffering from borderline personality disorder, post-traumatic stress syndrome and mental illness caused by drug abuse; that she had been subjected to physical and sexual abuse as a child; and that "she was barely coping with the normal stresses of life".

Justice Beazley said that although Hughes suffered no mental illness, the sentencing judge had found him equally responsible, and the court was required to impose the same sentence to preserve "parity".

Justice Beazley said Hughes' appeal had been delayed because he learned only recently of the mother's successful appeal.

And she referred to an affidavit signed by Hughes and tendered to the court, acknowledging that he was "progressing well" in prison and "moving appropriately towards rehabilitation".

The court ordered that Hughes serve a minimum term of 14 years, dating from August 1993, and that he be eligible for release in August 2007.

Hughes, represented by barrister Stephen Odgers, SC, did not appear in court yesterday, nor did members of his family.

The boy's natural father has died since the murder. But his partner Wendy Campbell, who was at the court yesterday, said her family would accept the court's decision.

"I'm not happy, but I understand why he got a reduced sentence," Ms Campbell said.

"I think that life is appropriate for the death of a child, especially the way (the boy) was murdered."

Ms Campbell, who travelled from Wagga Wagga to attend yesterday's appeal in Sydney, said she had promised her partner before he died in 1995 that she would continue to fight for justice.

But she said she now wanted to move forward through a process of "restorative justice", and would ask Hughes to meet her and the boy's four siblings - who have grown up in foster care - to help the family find closure.

[BlackVeil]

The murder of this child was particularly brutal, and the killers very unrepentant.

[GeronL]

Some people have fallen for the liberal line that children aren't as important as spotted Owls.

[agitator]

I'd like to know why both of these people weren't removed from the gene pool permanently.

[BlackVeil]

Agitator, some people did want to do just that.

The account in this article is horrific enough. But there are more details not covered. After killing the boy, the mother and "boyfriend" made up a story that they had found him outside, and that he had been bashed in the park.

They appeared on tv, crying with grief (crocodile tears!) and calling for information from the public. The murdering mother snuffled that she would never, ever, forgive her son's killer. (That is, herself and the guy right beside her.) The boyfriend was more in the mode of bewildered innocent "WHO?" he kept asking "Who could do such a thing?"

They got a lot of sympathy from the whole community, as one would imagine. They tried to cast suspicion on some local disadvantaged youth, who were unemployed and used to hang about the park. Then, under police investigation the story fell apart, and they were arrested.

During the trial, they tried to blame each other for the assault, and also tried to shift the blame to the victim, saying that the boy was a sex abuser who had preyed on his little sister. The poor dead boy was less than 10 years old!

Angry mobs assembled outside the court, and wanted to dish out some instant justice. Unfortunately, the police kept them back.

[Kirkwood]

Blame the DA for allowing this to be plea-bargained. They should have both fried for this. It wasn't just a cold-blooded murder, but child torture as well.

[jocon307]

Quite a horriffic tale, when will the death penalty be re-istated thoughout the world for scum like these?

And as for this: "she was barely coping with the normal stresses of life" well, I might say the same for myself. But I'm a long way from bashing in the head of a ten year old. Repeatedly. For two hours.

[BlackVeil]

I think it wasn't a plea bargain.

It is an Australian case, and we have no death penalty. Under NSW law, they would normally serve 20-25 years for murder, but in "family cases", there is almost always a reduced sentence.

Once upon a time, in the 19th century, they would have been handed over to the public hangman. We don't have that any more, and these types of crimes are definitely increasing.

[BlackVeil]

This case is a bit of a follow on, from that of the Texan mother who stoned her son's to death, and was found "not guilty by reason ..."

In this case, it is admitted that the mother suffered from no mental illness, but she was stressed and not coping with the normal difficulties of life. So she gets a reduced sentence. Her boyfriend, then, also gets a reduced sentence for his role in the murder, on the grounds of "parity."

[taxesareforever]

What we need is for another judge to reduce his sentence to 500 years and then say the mother's sentence should be equal. It's all a matter of semantics. Judges do it all the time.

[ApplegateRanch]

"I think that life is appropriate for the death of a child, especially the way (the boy) was murdered."

No; death is the only 'appropriate' sentence. Since Oz doesn't allow it, then maybe they need to rethink it.

she had been suffering from ... and mental illness caused by drug abuse;

When are courts going to recognize that self inflicted 'disabilities' like using drugs or getting drunk are an exacerbation of criminal activity, rather than a mitigating factor, and do away with the self serving 'diminished capacity' defense?

[Dr. Juris]

For every 14 violent crimes committed in the United States, only one criminal is incarcerated. The average duration of imprisonment is 10 years for murder, 7.6 years for rape. Criminals on parole or early release commit 5,000 murders, 17,000 rapes and 20,000 robberies each year. There is something fundamentally wrong with our system of justice.

Cardozo, Benjamin:
Justice, though due to the accused, is due to the accuser also.

de La Bruyere, Jean:
If poverty is the mother of crime, stupidity is its father.

Juvenal:
What man was ever content with one crime?

McClellan, John L.:
The idea of having a lawyer present before you can ask a man a question about whether he has committed a crime is taking absurdity to the extreme.

Meese, Ed:
You don’t have too many suspects who are innocent.

Puzo, Mario:
A lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns.

Blackstone, Sir William:
It is better that ten guilty persons escape than one innocent suffer.
(The sentiment is undoubtedly correct, especially from the perspective of the innocent person who is wrongly convicted. It is a bedrock of free society. I believe, however, that inadequate consideration is given to the consequences of a system that would operate in such a manner. Turning, e.g., ten violent criminals loose on society, would undoubtedly result in the commission of far more crimes by those criminals, and therefore the victimization of far more innocent citizens. Accordingly, we should be very concerned with convicting the guilty, as we rightfully are concerned with safeguarding the innocent from wrongful conviction.)

[dennisw]

Such killers need to have their atoms recycled

[GailA]

It won't be in effect in America if hanoi john is elected. He is opposed to it. Has stated he will impose a moratorium at the federal level on the DP..which means OBL won't meet justice if he should be captured and brought to the US for justice.

Kerry I'm for the death penalty for terrorist, but I'll declare a moratorium on the death penalty @ the federal level...obl you are safe now.

[MeekOneGOP]

Killer to get early release

My gosh ! These two should be on Death Row, or already gone by now.
But they're eligible for parole in 3 years ???

Pinging my Execution list to this one. "How justice is NOT served" ping ...

Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my Texas Executions ping list!. . .don't be shy.

[Houmatt]

The reason is quite simple: There is no death penalty is Australia.