Prosecutors will not appeal Bailey Clifford’s sentence for killing Paul Grapsas

The Office of Public Prosecutions will not appeal the sentence handed down to waterfront killer Bailey Clifford over the slaying of beloved father-of-three Paul Grapsas

Paul Grapsas, left, was stabbed to death by Bailey Clifford after he caught Clifford rummaging through his car.

The Office of Public Prosecutions had found the sentence handed down to waterfront killer Bailey Clifford was not manifestly inadequate and will not appeal it.

Serial thief Clifford stabbed father-of-three Paul Grapsas to death near Western Beach on September 14, 2023, after Mr Grapsas found Clifford rifling through his car.

Clifford was last month sentenced by Justice Rita Incerti to eight years and six months jail for Mr Grapsas’ manslaughter, with a non-parole period of five years.

Having spent over a year on remand, Clifford will be eligible for parole after less than four years.

On Tuesday afternoon, an OPP spokeswoman confirmed a “careful review” into the 20-year-old’s sentence had been completed and that there were no grounds for appeal by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Brendan Kissane KC.

In order for the prosecution to appeal a sentence for manifest inadequacy, “it must be shown that it was not reasonably open to the sentencing judge to come to the sentencing conclusion she did if proper weight had been given to all the relevant circumstances of the offending and of the offender”, the spokeswoman said.

“It has been determined that in the circumstances of this case the sentence is not manifestly inadequate,” she said.

Justice Rita Incerti cited Clifford’s guilty plea, remorse, youth and “reasonable” prospects for rehabilitation – provided he can remain alcohol and drug free – as mitigating factors in his case.

The decision comes after Mr Grapsas’ wife, Jessica, demanded the OPP appeal the sentence, which she called “insulting” and “devastating”.

“The brevity of this sentence feels like a second injustice following the unimaginable trauma of losing my husband,” she said.

“It fails to reflect the gravity of the crime committed and the irreplaceable loss we have suffered.”

A petition calling for an appeal by the OPP over the sentence had garnered more than 4000 signatures as of Tuesday.

Originally published as Prosecutors will not appeal Bailey Clifford’s sentence for killing Paul Grapsas