Bid to lock up Aiia Maasarwe’s killer Codey Herrmann for life fails

A desperate legal bid to ensure killer and rapist Codey Herrmann is in jail for life has failed, after his 36-year sentence was ruled “severe punishment”.

The state’s top prosecutor has failed in her push to have killer rapist Codey Herrmann locked up for life, with appeal judges ruling his 36-year sentence was “severe punishment”.

Director of Public Prosecutions Kerri Judd QC argued in Victoria’s Court of Appeal that Herrmann’s sentence for the savage rape and murder of 21-year-old Aiia Maasarwe was “manifestly inadequate”.

Ms Judd said life behind bars was the only option when considering the gravity of his offending, highlighting how he knocked her unconscious by repeatedly hitting her with a metal pole, dragged her into the bushes, raped her and then set her body on fire.

She said the community needed to be protected from him with the only motive he could provide for targeting Ms Maasarwe was that he “hated the world”.

Aiia Maasarwe was murdered while studying in Melbourne in January 2019.

“This was a vicious, callous and intentional killing of an unsuspecting young woman,” Ms Judd said.

But the appeal, overseen by five appeal judges, was dismissed on Friday.

Appeal president Chris Maxwell, alongside justices Stephen Kaye, Richard Niall, Terry Forrest and Karin Emerton, found the sentence “represents severe punishment”.

They agreed with Herrmann’s lawyer Tim Marsh that the sentencing judge was right to consider his young age, personality disorder, Aboriginal disadvantage and deprived upbringing as mitigating factors.

“In our view, the sentence of 36 years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of 30 years was within the range reasonably open to the judge sentencing this offender for these offences,” the judges ruled.

“On any view, the sentence represents severe punishment.

“The sentence can be seen to reflect the giving of appropriate weight to both the horrific nature of the offending and the significant matters in mitigation which her honour was bound to take into account.”

Codey Herrmann departs the Supreme Court in 2019.

Herrmann after his arrest. Picture: Alex Coppel

Supreme Court judge Elizabeth Hollingworth jailed Herrmann, now 23, for a minimum of 30 years after he pleaded guilty to the rape and murder of Ms Maasarwe as she walked home in Bundoora on January 16.

Ms Maasarwe, a Palestinian-Israeli international student, was on the phone to her sister, Ruba, when Herrmann attacked her from behind shortly after midnight.

Ruba Maasarwe heard her sister’s harrowing screams and final words of “You piece of s---” in Arabic, before silence.

She raised concerns with authorities hours later when she and other family members could not reach Ms Maasarwe.

After sentencing in October 2019, Aiia’s father Saeed spoke of his anguish that his daughter’s killer could one day be free to roam the streets again.

“I don’t know, after (30 years) … he can go continue his life as normal. How he can do that?,” he said.

The appeal judge’s noted there was no error in Justice Hollingworth’s conclusion that Herrmann had “fair prospects of rehabilitation if … given appropriate treatment, support and

supervision”.

“It is a catchcry of modern governments that ‘the safety of the community is our

first priority’,” they said.

Aiia’s dad Saeed Maasarwe (R) at the Melbourne Supreme Court. Picture: Tony Gough

“Accepting that to be so, the protection of the community … requires that offenders like (Herrmann) be given access to the support services and specialised treatment on which their rehabilitation depends.

“He must, of course, remain ready to engage with treatment but the responsibility rests on the state, which controls his incarceration, to ensure that it is made available.”