A Melbourne man who murdered his girlfriend by "savagely" beating her before her body was dumped in a mineshaft at Kangaroo Flat has been denied a bid to reduce his 26-year jail sentence.
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Brendan Neil, now 31, attacked 33-year-old mother Simone Quinlan in August 2015 at Melton, angry she'd previously "snitched" on him to police after he'd attacked her with a baseball bat.
While in a rage, Neil brutally beat Ms Quinlan and wrapped her head in tape, telling her she looked "beautiful like that", before tearing it off.
After a brutal and prolonged attack, Neil's friend Wayne Marmo loaded Ms Quinlan into the back of his ute, shot her in the head, then dumped her in a mineshaft near Bendigo, before setting the body on fire.
It was not known at which point she died.
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The following day, Neil hired a floor sander to remove the bloodstains from his house.
In December 2017, Neil was jailed for 26 years, with a non-parole period of 22 years, after pleading guilty to murder.
At the same time, Marmo was jailed 24 years, with a minimum of 20 years, after a jury convicted him of murder.
On Monday, the Court of Appeal refused Neil's appeal bid, disagreeing the trial judge's non-parole period was "manifestly excessive".
The court also disagreed the trial judge made a parity error when sentencing the two men, given Neil had pleaded guilty - although at a late stage - and also made an offer to give evidence against Marmo.
The appeal judges said sentencing Neil and Marmo might have been more difficult for a judge given the killers' different factual bases.
"That said however, we see no error in Her Honour's analysis or in the outcomes that she ultimately imposed," the judges said.
Australian Associated Press
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