A former chef who savagely murdered a defenceless Sydney father before mutilating his body has been jailed for at least 22 years and 11 months.
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Khanh Xuan Pham, 40, was found guilty in March of murdering Minto man Goran Stevanovic on January 8, 2019 when he went to Pham's Sadlier unit to buy drugs.
After a judge-alone trial in the NSW Supreme Court, Justice Helen Wilson rejected Pham's claim he had been acting in self-defence which would have reduced the offence to manslaughter.
She jailed him on Thursday for 30 years and seven months with a non-parole period of 22 years and 11 months.
"This crime is indeed a grave one, involving a savage attack by the offender, with a weapon on an unarmed man, and thereafter treating his body with complete contempt, denying Mr Stevanovic his humanity, or any dignity in death," Justice Wilson said.
The murder was "a pitiless crime", while his mutilation of the body, including his penis being cut off, was horrific and resulted in Mr Stevanovic's family being unable to have a funeral according to their faith.
Speaking outside court, his distraught father Dragoslav Stevanovic said the family was traumatised by the way the killer murdered their 40-year-old son.
"I will never forgive him because he has not shown any remorse," he said.
The judge said Pham stabbed his victim when he was sitting peacefully with his back to him before chasing the wounded man outside to finish the job, then dragging him back into the unit's shower recess.
Pham then "waited for Mr Stevanovic to die" before chopping up his body in an apparent attempt to cover up his crime, then stole his car, wallet and phone.
He told a neighbour concerned about the trail of blood leading to the unit door that a dog had killed a rabbit.
The judge said it wasn't possible on the evidence to say why Pham murdered the victim but it may have involved a fight, or a planned robbery or Pham being in a drug-induced paranoid state.
"At the hearing of sentence proceedings Mr Stevanovic's family, who were present to honour him, sat in the public gallery of the court sobbing, quietly but continuously," she said.
"Their grief was a solid presence in the courtroom."
Australian Associated Press
