By ALESHA CAPONE
A MAN who brutally killed a Deer Park post office owner has won a three-year reduction to his prison sentence.
Three judges at the Supreme Court of Victoria Court of Appeal have heard Riad Barbour’s appeal against his sentence for murdering Dzung Nguyen at the post office in December 2011.
The body of Mr Nguyen, 48, was discovered by his children, after Mr Barbour attacked him with a truncheon and a box-cutter.
The two knew each other because Mr Nguyen supplied Mr Barbour with cigarettes for his Bacchus Marsh milkbar.
The two were having a business meeting when Mr Barbour launched “a frenzied, and apparently unprovoked but deadly, attack by the applicant on his smaller, unarmed victim”.
CCTV showed Mr Barbour stealing almost $12,300 from the post office and then leaving after the murder.
At the time he committed the murder, Mr Barbour was on parole for armed robbery, aggravated burglary and possessing a drug of dependence.
In August 2010, Mr Barbour was sentenced to 23 years’ imprisonment for the murder of Mr Barbour and theft of cash.
He was ordered to serve 19 years and six months before becoming eligible for parole.
Mr Barbour recently appealed his original sentence on the grounds his first sentencing judge erred in finding he specifically intended to steal from and murder Mr Nguyen.
He also appealed on the grounds his original sentence “was manifestly excessive” and he had to wait too long before becoming eligible for parole.
The three Court of Appeal judges re-sentenced Mr Barbour to a total of 20 years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of 18 years.
Court of Appeal Judge Ashley said Mr Barbour’s actions were “sufficiently irrational” after the crime to conclude he did not necessarily enter the post office with the intention of committing murder.
Judger Ashley said Mr Barbour’s sentence should be reduced to allow him to serve one year for theft, concurrently with 19 years for murder.
Judger Ashley said if Mr Barbour had pleaded not guilty he would have retained the original sentence of 23 years’ imprisonment.
