A cowardly African killer has appealed his jail sentence for murdering Australian grandmother Vyleen White in Queensland, leaving her family appalled and angry.
The Sudanese refugee cannot be named because he was a minor when he stabbed Ms White to death in front of her six-year-old granddaughter for her Hyundai Getz in the carpark of the Town Square Redbank Plains Shopping Centre in Ipswich in February 2024.
His legal team on Tuesday argued his 16-year-sentence with a non-parole period of less than 10 years was “manifestly excessive”, and barrister Matt Hynes told the Queensland Court of Appeal it was the longest sentence ever given to a 16-year-old for the same offence, The Courier Mail reported.
The appeal was heard before court president Justice Debra Mullins and Justices John Bond and David Boddice, and Justice Mullins said it was “neither here not there” that the sentence was the highest in those circumstances.
The killer’s legal team also argued that Chief Justice Helen Bowskill erred when she found the murder was deliberate and determined and rejected a submission that the African teen acted in a “moment of madness”, ABC News reported.
They also compared the sentence to that given to a teenager who stabbed a young mother Emma Lovell to death in a home invasion and was sentenced to 14 years.
But Director of Public Prosecutions Todd Fuller KC told the court the sentence was “well short” of being manifestly excessive, CCTV showed the stabbing was “very deliberate and intentional”, and that the stabbing occurred in different circumstances to Ms Lovell’s murder.
“The sentence properly reflects the tension that exists between the need to protect the community and the sentencing of a young offender for the serious offence of murder, “ he said.
The court reserved its decision, but Ms White’s family said the appeal showed the killer was callous and remorseless, and was “another tough day for our family.
“It’s just a kick in the guts,” Ms White’s daughter Cindy said.
“We’re just hoping the sentence is upheld and that’s the end of it.
“I believe there will be community outrage if the original decision was to be overturned.”
During sentencing the Queensland Supreme Court heard that the then-16-year-old plunged his knife into Ms White’s heart without hesitation while trying to steal her car to use in a robbery with a group of other African teenagers.
The killer did not stop to check on Ms White, who suffered a 17cm-deep wound, and her granddaughter was forced to run up an escalator alone to ask for help after first running up to her.
Justice Bowskill took into account the murderer’s guilty plea, which she said showed he had taken responsibility for the crime, and that he came from a loving family who still support him despite his actions, and told him: “I also accept that you feel ashamed for what you have done”.
But she also called the killer “callous and cowardly”, noting that a “defenceless” Ms White had raised her arms in surrender while being threatened by the teenager, who “towered” over her.
“[Ms White] was an innocent older woman going about her business at the shops with her young granddaughter in the early evening … She ought to have been able to feel and be safe,” Justice Bowskill said.
Header image: Left, the killer being taken into custody (9News). Right, Ms White (supplied).
