By LAURA WAKELY
A FORMER soldier who killed a Deer Park post office owner in an “act of savagery” over cigarettes has been jailed for 23 years.
Riad Barbour will also serve another 22 months for an armed robbery, which he was on parole for at the time of the murder in December last year.
The court heard Mr Barbour had purchased cigarettes for his milk bar from post office owner Dzung Nguyen, but had argued with Mr Nguyen about the payment.
On 6 December last year Mr Barbour entered the milk bar after hours, armed with a wooden truncheon and knife, and attacked Mr Nguyen.
He struck the Ballarat Rd businessman with a stapler, punched him and held him in a headlock before stabbing him several times with the knife.
The court heard Mr Barbour removed a DVD recorder, which he mistakenly believed contained the CCTV evidence of the crime, and stole more than $12,000 before fleeing the scene.
Mr Nguyen would have turned 49 years old last week.
Supreme Court Justice Cameron Macaulay said Mr Barbour was a victim of domestic violence as a child and had seen a fellow soldier shot and killed during his service in the Syrian army.
Justice Macaulay said Mr Barbour was addicted to amphetamines and steroids and had spent the money he stole from Mr Nguyen on gambling and drugs.
“Although somewhat clumsy and inept, your killing of Mr Nguyen was an act of savagery,” Justice Macaulay said.
“As may be expected, the impact of your crimes upon the family of Mr Nguyen has been, and will continue to be, absolutely devastating.
“Whilst it is bad enough that you have brought a violent and premature end to another person’s life, you have also consigned another group of people, his family and friends, to an interminable period of grief and agony.”
Mr Barbour will serve a minimum of 19 and a half years in jail.
