The evil monster who maliciously raped and murdered Jill Meagher in 2013 will now remain in jail until at least 2058.
Adrian Bayley was today sentenced to 18 additional years prison over the rape of three women in 2012. Bayley is already serving a life sentence for the rape and murder of Meagher, but today’s ruling added an extra 8 years to his non-parole period, taking the total sentence up to a minimum of 43 years behind bars.
Bayley will be 86 years of age before he even has the remote chance of seeing the free light of day again.
Judge Sue Pullen described Bayley’s behaviour as serious, and disturbing, noting that each of his victims was vulnerable in their own way, and was conscious of the fact that his sentence means it is entirely likely he will die in prison.
“Once each of these victims were in your sights their fate was sealed.”
“I was also conscious that the sentence I have imposed, will most likely, ensure you have likely forfeited your rights to hope for, or expectation of, eventual release from prison.”
“You have repeatedly over many years violated the basic rights of women in the community and with similar sexual offending to that before me.”
“Your repeated violent offending and gravity of that offending provides little to offer the faintest glimmer of hope. Even if there were any considerations of rehabilitation, they must in your case be subordinated to the gravity of your offending.”
Victim impact statements read in pre-sentencing yesterday revealed the sheer depths of horror and suffering that his victims have endured since the attacks. One suffered from depression and anxiety as a result, and has an inherent distrust of people. The second has drank and self-harmed to cope. And the third has not, as of yet, been able to bring herself to tell her parents about the ordeal.
In 2013, Bayley grabbed Jill Meagher, an Irish national and ABC employee, off of Sydney Road in the Melbourne suburb of
Brunswick as she was walking home from a bar. He raped and murdered her in cold blood, before callously disposing of the body. The crime sent shockwaves through the Melbourne community, with a march in her memory – and to protest violence against women – attracting 30,000 people. The case has brought parole reform back to the political forefront, particularly after Bayley’s extensive history of violent and sexual crimes was revealed.
Adrian Bayley will be transferred back to the maximum security prison where he was being held, largely in solitary confinement, for as many as 23 hours a day. It is entirely likely that he will remain there for the rest of his godforsaken days.
