Two men have been sentenced over the horrific death and violent sexual assault of Lynette Daley, 33, on a remote NSW beach in 2011.
Her former partner Adrian Attwater, 43, who was found guilty of manslaughter and aggravated sexual assault, has been sentenced to 19 years in prison, with a non parole period of 14 years, three months.
Paul Maris, who was found guilty of aggravated sexual assault and hindering the collection of evidence, has been sentenced to at least six years and nine months in prison.
Daley died on a campaign trip to Ten Mile Beach, in northern NSW, from blunt force genital tract trauma. The two men attempted to cover up their crime by burning the mattress and their clothes, and washing off some of the blood. Eventually – hours later, and after Daley had lost two litres of blood – Maris called an ambulance, but she died by the time it arrived.
During sentencing, Justice Elizabeth Fullerton described the men’s actions as “extremely serious, reflecting a very high level of moral culpability.”
She said that Attwater had lied to police “to conceal what he knew was his disregard or disinterest in her welfare.”
“I am satisfied he commenced and continued to perpetrate her vagina forcibly, vigorously and repeatedly in which he caused the injuries from which she died,” she said.
Both Attwater and Maris were charged at the time, but in early 2012, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Lloyd Babb, decided not to go ahead with the case, a move that Fullerton says he still hasn’t offered an explanation.
“The delay in the prosecution of them has not only operated unfairly on them but it has also operated to the direct detriment to the family of the deceased,” she said.
In September this year, it took a jury just thirty minutes deliberation to find both men guilty.
At today’s sentencing, Daley’s family cheered and applauded as the pair were led out of court.
