A person jailed over the manslaughter of a Gold Coast drug seller, who was assaulted and confined for days in a fishing Esky, will keep behind bars after he failed to inform a parole board particulars which might result in discovering the lifeless man’s lacking stays.
Matthew Leslie Armitage is taken into account a no physique, no parole prisoner beneath Queensland regulation for his involvement in inflicting Shaun Barker’s demise in 2013.
Mr Barker’s charred stays had been discovered scattered throughout a distant forest close to Gympie, north of Brisbane, in 2014.
Nevertheless, Mr Barker’s palms and toes had been by no means recovered.
Mr Armitage, his father Stephen John Armitage and one other man, William Francis Dean, pleaded responsible to Mr Barker’s manslaughter in 2021.
The trio had stored Mr Barker locked in a industrial fishing Esky, assaulting him, depriving him of meals and feeding him drug-laced water over a drug dispute.
Honey was additionally poured on Mr Barker’s genitalia to draw ants.
Whereas Mr Barker’s explanation for demise couldn’t be decided, a Supreme Courtroom decide discovered that the trio’s assaults and mistreatments of him culminated in his demise.
Stephen Armitage and Dean had been each jailed final yr for 10 years, whereas Matthew Armitage was sentenced to eight years’ jail.
The Parole Board of Queensland has now denied Matthew Armitage’s bid for freedom after he utilized for parole in August 2022.
The board discovered Armitage had not been cooperative through the listening to and rejected his software for parole.
Armitage had written to the board in November and December final yr with submissions that “basically expressed vitriol in the direction of the board for failing to search out in his favour instantly”.
He has continued to disclaim his involvement within the disposal of Mr Barker’s physique.
In a written choice printed on Monday, the board discovered Armitage’s counsel had been “misconceived” in arguing the definition of the no physique, no parole rule didn’t apply to the prisoner as a result of the vast majority of Mr Barker’s stays had been discovered.
The board finally discovered that since Armitage had failed to help in offering data as to the whereabouts of Mr Barker’s remaining physique elements, he’s not eligible for parole.
All three males had been initially convicted in 2018 over Mr Barker’s homicide, however their convictions had been overturned on attraction as they argued they didn’t intend for the sufferer to die.
They had been then convicted of Mr Barker’s manslaughter.
