Canberra axe murderer Marcus Rappel faces court over assaulting prison guard at Goulburn jail
Marcus Rappel murdered his ex-partner five years ago and is now facing sentencing for assaulting a prison guard — but his mum reckons he is a “good son” and would have made a “great father”.
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Axe murderer Marcus Rappel is a “good son”, and would have made a “great father” but has had “all of those things taken away” by being jailed for 38 years, his mum says.
Rappel appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court by video link from Goulburn jail on Wednesday, where he is being kept as a result of his repeated violence inside Canberra’s prison, the Alexander Maconochie Centre.
He was due to be sentenced over an assault on a guard, who he punched after demanding a cup of coffee.
His mother, Shirley Jabornicky, said she still sees good in her 45-year-old son, who she said was “not all bad”.
“No, it’s not all bad, it’s all good, except for a dreadful, dreadful thing he did on a particular day,” Ms Jabornicky said.
Rappel in 2015 murdered his former partner, Tara Costigan, after she took out a domestic violence order, in a crime Justice John Burns at 2017 labelled an act of “shameful barbarism”.
Rappel had his 32 year jail sentence increased by six years for the brutal bashing of two brothers inside jail, and will first be eligible for parole in 2044, aged 70.
Ms Jabornicky said her son would not be a free man until after she died, but that she would continue to visit him.
“I believe if you have got one friend in the world it’s your mother,” she said.
Ms Jabornicky was scathing of her son’s treatment behind bars, and said she was fearful he would be moved even further away from her home on the south coast.
“I do believe everyone is entitled to the opportunity to improve, but he hasn’t been given that.”
Magistrate James Stewart said: “Parenting is parenting”.
Prosecutor Anna Jamieson-Williams said assaulting the guard should prompt Mr Stewart to extend Rappel’s non-parole period, and it would send the wrong message to prisoners if his crime did not result in actual punishment.
Rappel, wearing prison-issued jumper interjected and said: “In no way am I ever crying victim, I did a horrible thing”.
Mr Stewart said any extension of Rappel’s non-parole period would amount to him serving more time as an old man, by which time he may have been rehabilitated.
Mr Stewart will sentence Rappel next week.