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A Perth man who killed his former partner, a mother of four, and buried her body in the Gnangara pine plantation has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Bradley Wayne Harvey, 42, lured Nicolle Bates, 29, to a unit in Westminster in February 2012 on the pretext of a drug deal.
It emerged during the trial that he was angry because Bates owed him money.
Harvey had punched and stabbed her, and stomped on her head.
Harvey and another man wrapped her body in a tarpaulin and buried it in a shallow grave in the Gnangara pine plantation.
She was found 18 days later, but the exact cause of her death could not be determined because her body was badly decomposed.
Harvey stood trial in the Supreme Court for murder but was found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.
At Harvey's trial, prosecutors suggested Bates may have been alive when she was buried, but Justice Michael Corboy said the verdict indicated the jury accepted that she was killed by the assault on her at the unit.
Justice Corboy said Bates was "vulnerable" and "had no means of defending herself when she was attacked".
He said the way Harvey treated Bates' body was "callous and disrespectful" and "the manner of disposing of the body had caused additional pain to the deceased's family".
Justice Corboy referred to victim impact statements provided to the court by Bates' mother, in which she said her daughter's death had "destroyed" her family.
Justice Corboy sentenced Harvey to 10 years in prison.
He will have to serve eight years before he can be released, and with time already served he could be released in 2020.
After the sentence was handed down, Bates' mother lashed out at members of Harvey's family as she stormed out of the courtroom.
Topics: murder-and-manslaughter, gnangara-6065, westminster-6061
First posted