By Luke Voogt
Convicted murderer Nicholas Munn has been sentenced to at least 21 years’ jail after killing North Shore father-of-three Jason Peter Fry with a hammer in 2018.
On Tuesday Supreme Court judge John Champion sentenced Nicholas Munn, 42, of Seaforth Street North Shore, to 27 years in prison with a non-parole period of 21.
During sentencing Justice Champion described Munn’s attempts to conceal the victim’s body after the “vicious” and “brutal” murder as “deplorable”.
“At no stage did you attempt to obtain medical assistance for Mr Fry,” he said.
“Instead you sought to conceal his death, and your actions, up until the point where his body was found.”
The sentence comes after a jury last September convicted Munn of murdering Mr Fry in his bedroom at Seaforth Street on April 9.
While Munn admitted to killing Mr Fry, he pleaded not guilty, claiming the victim came at him with a knife.
But Justice Champion rejected the claims as “an improbable construct” and accepted that Munn attacked the “unsuspecting” victim with a claw hammer from behind as he sat looking at a screen.
“I conclude that you struck Mr Fry as many as 13 times in a deliberate manner,” he said.
“Mr Fry’s skull was massively-damaged as a result of the blows, with pieces of his skull either missing or discovered at various locations.”
Justice Champion cited injuries to the back and side of Mr Fry’s head and a witness’s testimony of Munn describing the attack to her.
He also noted forensic testing linking a claw hammer to the murder.
The attack was a “spontaneous burst of anger” after Munn lent Mr Fry $2500, believing the victim “had spent or gambled the money away”, Justice Champion said.
Following the murder, Munn hid the body in a blue station wagon, attempted to clean the site, and sell or dispose of Mr Fry’s possessions, Justice Champion said.
On April 15 police discovered the “badly decomposed” body in the station wagon and officers arrested Munn two days later in Lara.
Justice Champion read victim impact statements from Mr Fry’s family, including his mother, who lamented the “cowardly” murder that had taken her son’s life for “almost nothing”.
But he acknowledged Munn showed “regret” for murdering Mr Fry, who he had known since they were teenagers.
He also acknowledged Munn had suffered severe abuse as a child that had caused several ongoing psychological conditions.
Munn could be eligible for release in 2039 given time already served in custody.
