ACT: DPP must appeal mother killer's 'inadequate' sentence: Libs

AAP General News (Australia)
08-08-2008
ACT: DPP must appeal mother killer's 'inadequate' sentence: Libs

By Julian Drape

CANBERRA, Aug 8 AAP - A Canberra man's 22-month jail sentence for stabbing his mother
to death is "totally inadequate" and must be appealed, says the ACT Liberal opposition.

Glen Malcolm Porritt, 24, was found guilty of the manslaughter of his mother, Nanette
Porritt, after stabbing her 57 times at the family's Canberra home in December 2005.

Porritt walked free yesterday after ACT Supreme Court Chief Justice Terrence Higgins
sentenced him to five years jail with a 22-month minimum term, which he'd already served.

Opposition legal affairs spokesman Bill Stefaniak says the community will be outraged.

"A 22-month sentence is totally inadequate, it's something the DPP (Director of Public
Prosecutions) really needs to appeal," Mr Stefaniak said.

"The community will be outraged at this sentence.

"Our supreme court has a reputation for being the most lenient in the country."

Justice Higgins yesterday said the sentence was "more severe than any other ... for
unlawful homicide" in the cases he had cited.

But Mr Stefaniak says the sentence should have been closer to the 20 years maximum
for manslaughter.

"Here we have a case where this woman is stabbed 57 times with a knife ... this surely
would be at the upper end of that scale."

There has been just one conviction for murder in the ACT since 1998, Mr Stefaniak said.

Porritt was tried by judge alone but the opposition argues serious charges such as
murder and manslaughter should be heard before a jury.

It also wants the ACT to follow NSW's lead and introduce recommended non-parole periods
for serious offences.

"People just shake their heads at some of the sentences handed down in the ACT Supreme
Court," Mr Stefaniak said.

"You just ask yourself how much is a life worth."

AAP jcd/rl/it/mn

KEYWORD: PORRITT STEFANIAK

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.