Ex-Turkish soldier blasted during sentencing for killing Melbourne couple after renovation conflict
UPDATE: IN dramatic scenes, an ex-Turkish soldier who butchered a Melbourne couple over a renovation dispute has been sentenced for the brutal crime.
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A FORMER Turkish soldier who butchered a Melbourne couple over a renovation dispute has been sentenced to at least 28 years in jail for the shocking crime.
Mustafa Kunduraci, 44, of Meadow Heights, repeatedly stabbed Greg Tucker and his partner Korinne Aylward to death in December 2013 after an argument over a debt for plaster work he had done at their Moonee Ponds home.
The killer was attacked by a man within the Supreme Court gallery on Judge Jane Dixon handing down her 35 year maximum sentence.
“F--king scumbag. Die,” the man shouted as he threw an object into the killer’s face.
Security officers rushed Kunduraci out of the courtroom as the man shouted at him to die.
The remorseless killer is likely to be deported back to Turkey on his release from jail.
Earlier, the court heard Kunduraci killed the couple while their three children, aged between two and five years old, slept in another room.
They escaped uninjured.
Kunduraci pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court last August to two charges of murder.
In handing down her sentence, Justice Dixon said the unarmed couple did not stand a chance when Kunduraci came to murder them on a quiet Sunday night.
“The dispute was over as far as (the victims) were concerned,” she said. “You went uninvited with a premeditated intention.”
The court heard Ms Aylward, who downstairs watching television, fought for her life before being stabbed through the heart.
When Mr Tucker came downstairs to investigate, he was set upon without mercy — his body found a short distance from his partner.
“They stood no chance of escaping your cruel attack,” Justice Dixon said.
The court heard Kunduraci was obsessed with avenging a perceived wrong.
Court documents released during his committal revealed Kunduraci told Ozan Girgin — a lawyer friend of Mr Tucker’s who was trying to mediate the debt issue — he would hurt the couple if they did not pay him $20,000.
“One day I am going to f--k them up. I have an insanity report and nothing major will happen to me. I will get off on it,’’ he said.
The documents state Kunduraci removed his Nike runners before entering the couple’s home armed with an Arcosteel carving knife and a bag containing a roll of duct tape, cable ties, two large plastic bags and a spray bottle of petrol.
Neighbours reported hearing an argument within the house before Kunduraci murdered the couple.
The killer then walked outside and called 000, telling the operator he had attended the house to collect money and got into a fight in which he was stabbed in the hand.
He later texted his business partner Hakan Kayer asking him to tell everyone to forgive him.
When Mr Kayar called him back, Kunduraci said he had acted in self-defence.
“I came to Greg’s house. I didn’t want this to happen. They tried to fight me. I killed them,’’ he claimed.
The documents also revealed Kunduraci’ long-term girlfriend had become concerned he might hurt the couple a week before he murdered them, warning Mr Girgin that if her boyfriend went to go and ask for money there would be an altercation which could send him to prison.
Police alleged the deadly dispute began when Mr Tucker paid the plasterer a $20,000 advance to preform intricate plastering work on his home.
When the couple were unhappy with his progress, they offered to bring in another plasterer, but Kunduraci convinced them he could complete the work.
When Mr Girgin contacted the plasterer, he claimed he had never been paid the $20,000 advance and wanted it paid in full.
When the plaster suppliers demanded $13,732 off Kunduraci for materials he used on the Tucker job, he had his lawyers demand more than $58,000 from Mr Tucker.
Months later the couple were murdered.
Kunduraci has already spent 733 days behind bars.