NEWS
Two men convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for grisly killings
The pair, who had a deep hatred of pedophiles and homosexuals,
boasted that the "good ones" didn't scream as they were tortured,
according to testimony at the trial
September 8, 2003
ADELAIDE, Australia — Two men were convicted Monday for their roles in one of
Australia's most grisly serial killing sprees and sentenced to life
imprisonment.
A South Australian Supreme Court jury found John Justin Bunting,
37, guilty of 11 murders in the "bodies-in-barrels" case that
shocked the nation.
The jury, which deliberated for almost a week following a trial
that lasted nearly a year, also convicted Robert Joe Wagner, 31, in
seven of the murders.
Wagner had pleaded guilty to three other counts of murder before
the trial.
The men were arrested after police found eight hacked-up bodies
stuffed in barrels and hidden in an defunct bank vault in Snowtown,
a small village near the South Australia state capital Adelaide.
Two more bodies were found buried in a suburban Adelaide backyard,
and two were found in other places that have not been disclosed.
Most of the victims, killed over 20 months from October 1997,
were t
ortured before being killed.
The murders are believed to be Australia's worst ever serial
killings, and sparked a level of media interest not seen since the
so-called "backpacker murders" of 1989 to 1992, in which seven
people, including some foreign tourists, were killed. Ivan Milat is
currently serving seven life sentences without parole for those
slayings.
Bunting had been charged with 12 murders and Wagner with taking
part in eight of the slayings, but the jury said they could not
reach a verdict on one of the murder counts.
Prosecutors say the victims were murdered so that their killers
could cash their welfare checks, but also for enjoyment. Both
Bunting and Wagner also allegedly targeted people they believed
were pedophiles.
During the trial, which began Oct. 16 last year and heard
testimony from more than 200 witnesses, the jury heard that some
victims had limbs severed and slabs of flesh cut from their bodies.
They were also shown photographs of the remains of some of the
victims.
Bunting and Wagner pushed a lit cigarette into the ear of one
victim and used pliers to break the toes of another, prosecutors
said.
The pair, who had a deep hatred of pedophiles and homosexuals,
boasted that the "good ones" didn't scream as they were tortured,
according to testimony at the trial.
Another two men have been charged with some of the murders.
James Spyridon Vlassakis pleaded guilty last year to four murders
and was sentenced to a minimum of 26 years in prison.
Mark Ray Haydon faces three counts of murder. No date has been
set for his trial. –Sapa-AP
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