Convicted killer Mark Allan Spajic released on parole after sentencing for serious assault, attempted burglary

A convicted killer who threatened to chop a man’s arms off after potentially imagining an altercation before triggering a 16-hour police standoff in West End has been released on parole.

Mark Allan Spajic was granted immediate parole following his sentencing hearing. Picture: NewsWire

An already-convicted killer who threatened to chop a man’s arms off with a meat cleaver before triggering a 16-hour police siege in inner-Brisbane, has walked free from court.

Mark Allan Spajic was found guilty by a Brisbane Supreme Court jury in 2010 of the manslaughter of Darren Atkinson, 34, at Bribie Island, north of Brisbane, two years prior after he stabbed Atkinson in the heart over a dispute sparked by the ownership of a printed T-shirt.

On Wednesday, Spajic pleaded guilty in Brisbane District Court to two new offences - one count each of serious assault and attempted burglary at night with violence while armed.

Spajic - who has been diagnosed with Schizoaffective disorder, but was unmedicated and intoxicated at the time - went to a third-floor unit where a close female friend lived in West End on March 25, 2022.

The court heard that at the time - real or imagined - he believed there was an altercation taking place inside the unit between an unknown man and his close female friend.

The court was told Spajic, who was armed with a meat cleaver, yelled into the unit that he was going to “chop the arms off” the man he believed was inside, he then ripped the screen door off its hinges and began hacking at the front door with the meat cleaver.

Mark Allan Spajic outside the Brisbane District Court in Brisbane after pleading guilty to attempted burglary and assault. Picture: NewsWire

Police quickly responded and when they initially challenged Spajic, who was 52 at the time, he dropped the meat cleaver, but ran into his own apartment and refused to co-operate.

The court heard that responding officers tried to speak to him for two hours before they called in specialist negotiators, but the siege then spanned a further 14 hours and was only ended when officers forced their way into Spajic’s unit through a glass door.

The court was also told that during the siege Spajic rang triple-zero claiming there were “fake” police officers at his door and he asked that “real” police officers be sent to help.

Spajic’s legal team said he had a “longstanding mental illness and prejudicial upbringing” but he had achieved some period of sobriety in the community in the past couple of years.

In sentencing, Judge Brad Farr SC detailed Spajic’s criminal history consisting of three serious knife crimes.

“One resulted in a charge of grievous bodily harm where the person was stabbed in the chest, another was a robbery where you held a knife to a 15-year-old shop attendant, and the last was a stabbing resulting in death and you being convicted of manslaughter,” he said.

“It goes without saying that you have been sentenced to lengthy terms of imprisonment in the past, it also goes without saying that so far none of the sentences imposed on you have had the desired rehabilitative or deterrent effect.”

Judge Farr acknowledged Spajic’s mental disorder, but decided it was “no way to justify” his behaviour that day which would have “terrified” nearby residents.

Spajic was sentenced to three years in prison, but because he served eight months in pre-sentence custody in 2022, Judge Farr set his parole release date as Wednesday, allowing Spajic to walk out of the court with his close female friend who was there supporting him.