Masa Vukotic’s killer to seek a shorter sentence
A killer who “got a high” from stabbing a Melbourne schoolgirl 49 times and raping a woman in a bookshop days later wants his sentence reduced.
The man who brutally murdered Melbourne schoolgirl Masa Vukotic on a walking track near her home four years ago wants a reduction in his sentence.
Sean Christian Price is currently serving a 41-year prison sentence over the slaying of the 17-year-old in Doncaster in March 2015 and the rape of a woman in a Christian bookshop four days later.
Ms Vukotic was on an evening walk when she was attacked by Price, who was on bail at the time. He pleaded guilty to murdering Ms Vukotic and raping a woman the next day, robbing a man of his mobile phone and attempting to steal a BMW.
After he was arrested Price told police he selected Ms Vukotic as his victim because she was talking to a bird “like f**king Snow White”.
Justice Lex Lasry watched Price’s entire record of interview and said it was “chilling, pathetic and sad” — he sentenced him to life in prison with a 38-year non-parole period in March 2016 on charges of murder, rape, robbery and attempted theft.
However, Price, 34, is now set to appeal against the length of his sentence in the Court of Appeal in Melbourne tomorrow.
The killer must first seek an extension of time to appeal and be granted leave to appeal.
It is understood Justices Simon Whelan, Stephen McLeish and Terry Forrest will address those matters at the same time as they hear the appeal.
During sentencing, Justice Lasry said had Price not pleaded guilty he wouldn’t have granted the possibility of parole from age 70.
The judge told the killer he had committed “horrendous crimes” and added that Price was not psychotic or impaired at the time of murder.
“Your act of killing her was at the extremity of brutality,” he said.
During the police interview, Price told how he had been thinking of killing someone for days and armed himself with a large knife was hidden in his sock.
“I was looking, looking and I just thought, f**k this, this is the moment. This one just ended up being the one, I just f**kin’ had to kill her, man.”
Ms Vukotic was listening to music on her earphones when the attack began. She was dragged into bushes and begged him not to hurt her. Price ignored her and stabbed her 49 times.
“I just f**kin’ just started ripping and stabbing and f**king just stabbing,” he told detectives.
Later, he said she was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
He then went onto detail his motivations further, telling police he had wanted to stab someone because “I just hated society”.
“I just thought I’m going to stab and I’m going to hurt these f**king dogs. So I thought originally, look for rich areas. I thought rich areas, these f**king c**ts they don’t care unless it happens to them, unless it’s in their society.”
Price has multiple previous convictions for rapes, indecent assaults, robbery and violence dating back to 2002.
In interviews with police, that were made public during a pre-sentence hearing in December, Price told police of the “rush” he got when attacking women.
“It’s the biggest high ever,” he said of the attacks.
“My intentions were evil. Just the fact that you’re a deviant when you’re doing it, that’s what really gets you off.”
Before she was killed, Ms Vukotic had dinner with her family and finished her homework, which was her usual pattern.
At 6.30pm her mother headed out to pick up her brother from soccer training and Masa said she was going for a walk. She was told to take her phone and house keys, but it was a walk she would never return from.
The year after he was sentenced, Price was handed an extra three years for breaching a supervision order in place at the time of Ms Vukotic’s murder.
Price is set to appeal both sentences, but not the convictions. Several grounds exist for an appeal, including that the sentence is manifestly excessive.
He could argue Justices Lasry and Meryl Sexton failed to give sufficient weight to factors including his mental health or his guilty plea when they handed down their sentences.
It’s not clear if Price, who earned a reputation for poor behaviour in court, will attend.
With Andrew Koubaridis and AAP