ACT prosecutors are calling for an increased sentence for convicted Canberra murderer, Jayscen Newby, who stabbed Frankie Prineas to death in 2020, ABC News reports.
Newby was sentenced to 20 years in jail and a 10-year non-parole period after stabbing Prineas to death while he was on a Tinder date with a woman Newby had known.
READ MORE: Alleged Charnwood murder victim named as Frankie Victor Prineas.
At the time of Newby’s trial last year, ACT Chief Justice Helen Murrell described the murder scene, at a home in Charnwood in Canberra’s north, as a “bloodbath.”
After the judgement was handed down, Prineas’ family said Newby’s jail term was not long enough and they were in “total dismay.”
“We knew we weren’t going to get justice; we knew it wasn’t going to be great, but we didn’t expect it to be so bad,” Prineas’ dad, Victor, said last year.
READ MORE: ‘Absolutely stunned’: Family react to 20 year sentence for murder of Frankie Prineas.
‘Mutilated an innocent person’:
Today, the ACT Court of Appeal heard that the case against Newby was overwhelming, with an eye witness and DNA evidence.
ACT Director of Public Prosecutions, Shane Drumgold, told the court that Newby was given too large a discount on his sentence for his plea of guilty and cooperation in the court process.
According to ABC News, Drumgold told the court Newby had not shown remorse and his sentence should reflect the seriousness of the crime he committed.
“He mutilated an innocent person to terrify his domestic partner,” he said. “It was an assertion of dominance.”
Newby’s lawyer, David Campbell, told the court even if it accepted the sentence was inadequate, any changes would only amount to “tinkering.”
The court has reserved its decision.
READ MORE: Man faces court after pleading guilty to murdering Greek Australian Frankie Prineas.
Source: ABC News.
