Paul Grapsas death: Victorian OPP urged to appeal killer Bailey Clifford’s jail term

The man who brutally killed a Geelong father could face a longer stint behind bars with his widow demanding prosecutors appeal against the “manifestly inadequate” prison term.

Paul Grapsas' wife Jessica Grapsas, supported on either side by her parents, speaking outside Geelong Law Courts following the sentencing his killer, Bailey Clifford.

The man who brutally killed a Geelong father could face a longer stint behind bars with his widow demanding prosecutors appeal against the “manifestly inadequate” prison term.

Bailey Clifford, 20, was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years jail over the 2023 slaying of Paul Grapsas, who he stabbed seven times near his waterfront home in a crime that shocked the city.

Clifford – a known criminal who three months earlier had been spared jail over a series of thefts carrying a knife – was given a non-parole period of five years by judge Rita Incerti.

With time served, he could be back in the community in less than four years, a punishment Jessica Grapsas called “insulting” and “devastating”.

Paul Grapsas (left) was stabbed to death by Bailey Clifford (right) in September 2023.

“The brevity of this sentence feels like a second injustice following the unimaginable trauma of losing my husband,” she said.

“It fails to reflect the gravity of the crime committed and the irreplaceable loss we have suffered.”

Her husband was stabbed by Clifford “not once, twice but seven times” with a 15cm filleting knife when he was confronted rummaging through their car.

He suffered wounds to his chest, back, left hip, rear left ear and right middle finger, with the seventh and final stab wound proving fatal.

The injury extended downwards to a depth of 13cm, passing into his chest cavity and lung before dividing a pulmonary vein.

Clifford “left Paul to die in the gutter”, according to Ms Grapsas, who found his lifeless body at 4am on September 14.

The couple were expecting their third child.

Paul Grapsas with his children Matilda and Abigail, sporting Geelong Cats kits. Photo: Supplied with permission.

Their family is now demanding the Director of Public Prosecutions, Brendan Kissane, re-evaluate the “manifestly inadequate” sentence for a killing Judge Incerti called a “serious example of manslaughter”.

The maximum penalty for the crime is 25 years.

“What then does constitute as a serious case of manslaughter?” she said.

“This was an opportunity for the courts to set precedent due to the facts that Paul was unarmed, defenceless and killed at such severity in the vicinity of his own home.

“We plea for a stricter penalty that not only delivers justice for Paul Grapsas, his family, and the Geelong community, but also serves as a deterrent to future violent crimes.”

Clifford was on a community corrections order when he killed Paul Grapsas. He could be back in the community in four years.

Clifford was charged with murder and was preparing to fight the charge before a jury when he sensationally plead guilty to the lesser charge on the eve of the trial.

The lack of a trial left Ms Grapsas “extremely frustrated”.

“Bailey Clifford, to me, will always be the one who should have been sentenced for murdering my husband,” she said.

“Manslaughter sentences were increased to 25 years, yet no judge has been willing to sentence above the maximum 13 years anyone has ever been sentenced in this state in the last decade.”

Borce Ristevski was charged with murder before pleading guilty to the manslaughter of his wife Karen, whose body was found in a forest, eights months after her death. (AAP Image/James Ross).

Wife killer Borce Ristevski’s nine-year sentence was increased to 13 after prosecutors successfully argued the original sentence was manifestly inadequate.

Karen Ristevski’s body was found in Macedon eight months after she disappeared from the couples Melbourne Home

Like Clifford, Ristevski, 55, also plead guilty to manslaughter on the eve of a murder trial.

If an appeal is lodged, the case will go before Victoria’s Court of Appeal, which will then decide whether to reassess evidence and the sentence imposed by Judge Incerti.

“The lenient sentence does not give a message of the value of a life, and it certainly does not give a message of deterrence,” Ms Grapsas said.

It comes as thousands of people have joined a campaign calling for a harsher sentence.

Originally published as Paul Grapsas death: Victorian OPP urged to appeal killer Bailey Clifford’s jail term