In two days, two very different sentences have been handed down in manslaughter cases in Victorian courtrooms, triggering furious debate over how different types of killers are treated by the law.
Yesterday's nine-year jail sentence imposed on Borce Ristevski, who hid his wife's body under logs and denied involvement in her death for years, immediately sparked outrage over sentencing laws in Victoria.
"Nothing was going to bring Karen back, but today was about justice, and we didn't get justice today at all," Ms Ristevski's brother, Stephen Williams, said outside court.
A day earlier, Joseph Esmaili was sentenced to 10 and a half years in jail for killing surgeon Patrick Pritzwald-Stegmann with a single punch after an argument about smoking at a hospital.
One key difference is Esmaili was the first person to be sentenced under Victoria's one-punch laws, which mandate a minimum decade-long jail term.
There is no equivalent legislation for sentencing in family violence matters, but the Victorian Opposition is using the Ristevski case to push for a parliamentary review.
Domestic Violence Victoria said the Ristevski sentence exposed "the limitations of the criminal justice system in delivering just outcomes in family violence matters".
"Today we received the message that taking a woman's life is worth six years of a man's life in prison," a DV Victoria statement said.
"This does not feel like justice for Karen Ristevski and those who loved her."
Tarang Chawla, an anti-men's violence advocate whose sister was murdered by her partner in 2015, echoed that sentiment.
"This sentence says to me that the killing of an intimate partner, a female intimate partner, by a man is not seen in the same way as stranger violence."
Silence complicates sentencing
Ristevski has not said how or why he killed his wife.
So Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale said he had "insufficient information" to compare the crime with other examples of manslaughter.
But he did find it was not at the lower end of the scale.
"This is a serious case of domestic violence," Justice Beale said.
But he added: "Without knowing the level and duration of the violence perpetrated by you which caused your wife's death, I simply cannot say whether your offending was mid or upper range."
Justice Beale said Ristevski would have received 10 years if not for his guilty plea, which spared the family the additional trauma of a trial.
The Office of Public Prosecutions could still appeal against the sentence.
"This sentence, like all sentences, will be under review for possible appeal. However, no decision has been made as yet," an OPP spokesperson said.
Attorney-General Jill Hennessy said it would be inappropriate to comment before a decision was made.
However, others have been openly critical, including Labor Upper House MP Philip Dalidakis, who tweeted that Victorians were losing confidence in the justice system.
Judges' powers are limited
RMIT justice expert Stan Winford, who has previously advised the State Government on legal policy, said the difference between the two sentences arose because of Victorian law, rather than judges' discretionary decision-making.
In one-punch cases, judges' legislative discretion had been narrowed by minimum mandatory sentences, Mr Winford said.
He said Sentencing Advisory Council data showed the average manslaughter sentence handed down in Victoria in recent years was between eight and nine years.
"So the sentence imposed here is within the mid to upper level of sentences that have been applied to this kind of manslaughter," he said.
The State Opposition wants a parliamentary committee on sentencing, which was recently scrapped, to be re-established.
It wants it to consider mandatory minimum prison terms for family violence.
"Too many Victorians will be looking at the sentence handed down to Ristevski and shaking their heads," Opposition Leader Michael O'Brien said.
Domestic Violence Resource Centre CEO Emily Maguire said no sentence was sufficient for a family grieving a loved one killed by family violence.
"We have a legal system. That means we operate within that, but how many years in jail is comparable for someone's life being lost?"
Borce Ristevski's sentence:
Joseph Esmaili's sentence:
WARNING: This document contains strong language.
