Cold-blooded killer Mark Valera's life sentence was...

Cold-blooded killer Mark Valera's life sentence was not harsh enough, NSW Supreme Court of Appeal Justice Roderick Meagher suggested.In dismissing Valera's bid for a more lenient sentence, Justice Meagher seemed to imply that the death penalty was a more apt punishment for the gruesome and brutal murders committed by Valera.
"One might be tempted to suggest that the circumstances of the present case call for a punishment a good deal more severe than mere life imprisonment," Justice Meagher said.He declined a media invitation to comment further on the remark, or to confirm whether he was referring to the death penalty.
Valera, 22, is the youngest person in NSW to be sent to jail for life and never to be released. It is the harshest and most extreme penalty available to the courts. Valera savagely bashed and strangled former Wollongong Lord Mayor Frank Arkell on June 26, 1998. Valera had also decapitated and mutilated David O'Hearn 14 days before. O'Hearn's nephew Andrew O'Hearn, a Sydney police officer, said it had been his task to identify his uncle's body.
"What was left of it, which wasn't much," he said outside the court. "It is something I'll never forget. It's the worst I've seen in 16 years of being a police officer."While he was happy with the court's decision, Andrew O'Hearn said he did not support the death penalty for Valera or anyone else.
"It just sends a message to all the other psychos out there," he said. "The death penalty just makes a martyr out of them. There are no winners in this case. It's been pretty sad for everyone involved."
But he said not all the members of his family would agree with his views on the death penalty."If he was sentenced to death there would be some who would not raise an eyebrow over it," he said.Asked about Justice Meagher's remarks, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Nick Cowdery, QC, said the judge was expressing his disgust and "from time to time expressed his personal views on judgements, often in strong and colourful terms".
"This is another example of such an expression," Cowdery said, pointing out the question of maximum penalties was for parliament."The worldwide trend is away from the imposition of the death penalty. There is no reason for any jurisdiction of Australia to reconsider its position."Attorney General Bob Debus and his Opposition counterpart, Chris Hartcher, along with the NSW Law Society, rejected any suggestion that the death penalty be reintroduced.