Kevin Arden jailed over hammer attack with intent to murder friend Harry Sumantri
How to mutilate a body, hide the smell and cover one’s tracks were the horrifying terms a man searched before attacking his friend with a hammer over a $50,000 debt linked to a hand sanitiser business, a court has heard.
Southern Courier
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Housemates Kevin Arden and Harry Sumantri became inseparable friends during the Covid lockdown, passing time by playing video games, gambling online and discussing potential business ideas.
Little did Mr Sumantri know, his so-called mate was Googling “how to dissect human,” “how to prevent putrid smell from raw meat” and “how do police track murder,” as part of a heinous and calculated plan to kill him.
Downing Centre District Court heard Mr Sumantri lent Arden $50,000 to invest in a hand sanitiser business in Indonesia during the pandemic.
This debt was a “powerful motivation” for Arden to want to murder his friend, Judge Sarah Huggett said.
Reading the chilling statement of facts, Judge Huggett set the scene of the frightening attack involving a hammer purchased from Dollar King in World Square.
At 12pm on 29 May, 2020, Mr Sumantri woke up and turned to Arden — who shared the same bedroom on a separate mattress on the floor — if the money owed had been repaid into his bank account.
There was an issue with his bank and the money would be there soon, Arden said, before making his housemate a “coffee” laced with doxylamine, an over-the-counter sleeping pill.
Before long, a sleepy Mr Sumantri “felt something banging on his head” and soon realised Arden was brutally hitting him with a hammer.
The desperate plea of “help – someone is trying to kill me” woke up one of three people living in the lounge room, who quickly became the hero of the day.
That housemate forcibly barged through the bedroom door. Shocked, he saw a hammer on the ground and Mr Sumantri covered in blood. He kicked the hammer away, dragged Mr Sumantri out of the bedroom and called triple-0.
When police arrived, Arden claimed Mr Sumantri had in fact started the fight. In the ambulance, reality set in as he told a paramedic: “I’m in big trouble”.
The attack left Mr Sumantri with two head fractures, a broken hand, a swollen right arm and a cut on his eyebrow which needed stitches.
In sentencing Arden, who moved to Australia from Indonesia on a student visa in 2015, Judge Huggett said Arden did not simply lose control in the moment, but had carefully planned the murder of his friend in an attempt to avoid repaying his debt.
She said in the weeks and days leading up to the incident, Arden Googled the following terms:
“Will cutting neck cause death; murder in mutilation; can police access your bank account; how to create bank account in other person’s name; latest and most complete news on homicide; can police track location from phone sim card; hitting someone’s head with hammer”.
Arden initially pleaded not guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent to murder, but was found guilty by a jury in a trial.
Appearing via video link from prison, the 28-year-old bowed his head as he was sentenced to 12 years and 6 months jail with a non-parole period of eight years.
He will be eligible for parole on 28 May, 2028, as his sentence was backdated to 29 May, 2020.
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