Cold case shotgun killer Paul Beveridge Maroroa’s nine-year prison term left untouched by appeals court
He shot a man, went on the run for 20 years, was caught due only to DNA and received a nine-year prison term. Prosecutors said that was “manifestly inadequate” – today, a court disagreed.
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The nine-year sentence imposed upon a shotgun killer who spent two decades on the run, evading justice, will stand – despite a prosecution challenge that dubbed it “manifestly inadequate”.
In a 2-1 decision on Thursday, the Court of Criminal Appeal refused to alter Paul Beveridge Maroroa’s penalty for the manslaughter of Robert Sabeckis.
Outside court, Mr Sabeckis’ niece, Vilija, said the ruling was unsatisfying.
“It’s disappointing – you always hope for a bigger sentence, especially in the circumstances of this case,” she said.
Maroroa admitted that, in January 2000, he shot Mr Sabeckis with a sawn-off shotgun at close range, stole his car and left him to die in a Maslin Beach car park.
However, he insisted he did not murder Mr Sabeckis, claiming instead he acted to protect himself from an attempted rape and save his own life.
Maroroa spent 20 years on the run before being linked to the crime by a DNA match.
In February, a Supreme Court jury acquitted him of murder but found him guilty of manslaughter.
Justice Sam Doyle imposed a six-year minimum term, rejected Maroroa’s claim that Mr Sabeckis, tried to rape and kidnap him.
However, he also ruled that “whatever” Mr Sabeckis did to prompt Maroroa to shoot him three times “substantially mitigated” the crime.
Justice Doyle said that, together with Maroroa’s good character and lack of offending during his decades as a fugitive, warranted the “relatively short” prison term.
That left Maroroa eligible to seek release on parole in just four years, prompting prosecutors to file an appeal against the “manifestly inadequate” sentence.
They said the crime was “as close to murder as you can get”.
On Thursday, Justices David Peek and Kevin Nicholson said they would refuse the appeal and make no alteration to Maroroa’s punishment.
Justice Trish Kelly, dissenting, said she would have allowed the appeal.
She would also have increased Maroroa’s non-parole period to seven years, two months and 11 days – or four-fifths of his head sentence.
Marora will be eligible to seek release on parole in 2024.