Hammer attacker gets 15 years for attempted murder

Glen Reginald Francis has been jailed for 15 years for trying to kill Gympie dad Timothy Udris with a hammer

RECOVERED: Gympie father Timothy Udris, who survived a hammer attack in June, 2014, outside Brisbane Supreme Court with his wife Emily. Picture: Jessica Grewal

A MAN who made a "spontaneous decision to kill" a Gympie father with a hammer at a local drug den has been sentenced to 15 years in jail.

Glen Reginald Francis, 38, was previously found guilty by a jury of the attempted murder of Timothy Udris at an ice dealer's home at Monkland in June 2014.

Mr Udris was left to die on the lounge room floor and was eventually treated for skull fractures that had exposed part of his brain tissue.

This is the 10th time Francis has been sentenced to jail.

He has served sentences for burglary, drugs and dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm.

The Gympie Times can also now reveal three others who helped cover up the brutal attack pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact last December.

Stevie-Lee O'Toole, who placed blood-soaked towels into the washing machine so police wouldn't see them, was sentenced to nine months in jail but allowed immediate parole.

Roslyn Lee Ann Marsh and Terry Maxwell McEwan, who failed to help Mr Udris as he lay bleeding on the floor, were both sentenced to 12 months in jail.

Because each had already spent more than two years behind bars awaiting their court dates, they were also released immediately.

Mr Udris previously told the court a chance meeting with McEwan in a Gympie shopping centre car park, where they discussed cooking meth, started the chain of events.

He said he agreed to drive McEwan and Francis to Hervey Bay to source garbage bags full of cold and flu tablets that would be needed for the cook.

He also claimed he was fearful the entire trip north. On the way, they were pulled over by Hervey Bay police and asked to produce identification.

The attack happened the following morning when they returned to Gympie and an argument broke out between Francis and Mr Udris

Defence barrister Harry Fong told the court on Tuesday it was unrealistic to believe his client intended to harm Mr Udris from the start because he would have known, when he was stopped by police, that he would be the first suspect.

Instead, he described the attack as a "spontaneous decision to kill".

Francis was originally due to be sentenced immediately following his trial but the case was adjourned so a full medical report could be obtained.

Mr Fong had also queried whether it was fair for Mr Udris to claim the attack had condemned him and his wife to a life on government benefits when both were reliant on Centrelink payments beforehand.

However, an agreed victim impact statement tendered in court on Tuesday maintained the attack had significantly affected Mr Udris and his family.

In it, Mr Udris describes suffering from "extremely painful headaches" and often needing his wife's help to shower.

Justice John Byrne said Francis had left Udris "for dead" and shown no remorse for his actions.

He said while Francis may have felt "slighted" by comments Mr Udris had apparently made before the attack, nothing could excuse the "extreme, almost lethal level of violence" used.

Francis was declared a serious violent offender.

This means he must serve at least 80% of his sentence behind bars before he is eligible for parole.

More than 1000 days spent in pre-sentence custody were declared as time already served.

- ARM NEWSDESK