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The lawyer of a man who murdered his ex-girlfriend and filmed himself having sex with her corpse has argued against a life sentence telling a court “he’s no Marcus Rappel or Ivan Milat”.
Twenty-nine-year-old Josaia Vosikata has admitted to murdering his ex-girlfriend Daniela D’Addario at her home in April 2015 after she broke up with him. Vosikata then took off, with D’Addario’s body in the boot of a car, before fleeing into bushland where he was stopped by police and arrested.
Appearing in the ACT Supreme Court for his sentencing hearing, Vosikata’s lawyer argued his client should not receive a life sentence because the case “is not the worst case of murder” according to the ABC.
“He’s no Marcus Rappel or Ivan Milat or many other offenders who’ve been convicted of this offence.”
While acknowledging the heinous crime, he said that Vosikata did not deserve to spend the rest of his life in prison and that there were prospects for rehabilitation, reports the ABC.
However CT Director of Public Prosecutions Jon White told the Court that Vosikata had planned a “violent revenge which resulted in murder,” and the act of filming himself having intercourse with her corpse after “was redolent of the taking of a trophy.”
The prosecution also added that in the weeks leading up to her death, Vosikata had searched the internet for “remote cottages”, “remote national parks”, and “how to kill without joy,” The Canberra Times reported.
D’Addario’s family are pushing for a life sentence, and her sisters broke down as they delivered their victim impact statements.
“No sentence you hand out will bring my sister back,” she told the court.
“Why should he ever be given another chance to be a member of our community when, for no other reason than jealousy, he stole from my sister everything she had at the age of 35.
“And, at the same time he murdered her, he stole everything she was ever going to have.”
D’Addario’s aunt also spoke in front of the court, admitting it was “impossible to conceive someone who had so much to contribute had been so badly treated”.
“We will move on. Dani will always be cherished. However, the impact of the unnatural shortening of her life at the hand of another human being can never be forgotten. The effect of this wicked and criminal act will be with us forever.”
The judge is expected to hand down the sentence by the end of the year.
