24th Murderer: Martin Bryant – Victims: 35 shot dead
Martin Bryant, born 7 May 1967, needs no introduction after becoming one of the most infamous Australians ever when he shot dead 35 people at Port Arthur, Tasmania in 1996.
The mass shooting remains one of the world’s most deadly massacres and led to a major overhaul of Australia's gun laws. He was found guilty at trial of 35 counts of murder and was jailed without possibility of parole.
Gunman, Martin Bryant, will never be released from jail
Alannah, 6, and Madeline Mikac, 3, were the youngest of Martin Bryant’s victims.
The young sisters died alongside their mother Nanette, while attempting to escape the carnage.
More than two decades later, in a heartbreaking interview for television series Anh Do’s Brush With Fame, Walter Mikac broke down as he recalled the final moments of his wife and daughters’ lives.
“The car with the gunman came up the hill,” Mr Mikac said.
“Nanette was running with the kids. She was carrying Maddie. There were other people who overheard her saying, ‘We’ll be safe if we just keep running and we’re away from here’.
“The car stopped and the gunman got out. She pleaded with the gunman for the childrens’ lives. She said ‘Please don’t kill my children’.
“He shot her and then
he shot the children. Alannah was hiding behind a tree and he actually went up
to her and shot her there.”
Madeline and Alannah Mikac’s legacy will forever live on with the Alannah and Madeline Foundation working to protect children from violence
Tasmania’s Supreme Court heard Bryant showed no remorse for his actions.
For the murders of 35 people in the massacre, Bryant was handed 35 life sentences and ordered never to be released on parole.
In 1997, Bryant was sentenced to prison for the term of his natural life, serving 35 life sentences with no possibility of parole for killing 35 people, including children, and injuring 23 others in the Port Arthur massacre in 1996.
Bryant has spent time in solitary confinement and been housed in various secure wings of prison with select other prisoners for almost 19 years.
Bryant, now 53, is highly unlikely to ever be released from jail. He has already served 23 years. Based on the average annual cost of Maximum Security Incarceration in 2020, should he live another 20 years to 75, his jail incarceration will have cost the NSW taxpayer $7.525 million circa ($175,000 p.a. X 43 years).
Questions re 24th Murderer: Martin Bryant
Should the NSW state government amend its criminal codes so that where the level of proof is Beyond Any Doubt of Guilt that the death penalty may be sentenced for malicious unprovoked murder because Justice for the Innocent Victim should be a consideration amongst the Purposes of Sentencing?
Should other states and territories similarly amend their criminal codes?
Write responses to above two questions re 24th Murderer on 'Peer Reviewer's Responses to Sentences Form' Word document