FOUR YEARS FOR A LIFE
SO UNJUST, SAYS GRIEVING MUM:
The teen who stabbed and killed good samaritan Nathan Gent (right) at a Norlane party could be out of jail in just over four years.
THE mother of Norlane family man Nathan Lee Gent who was fatally stabbed at a party last year has said the sentence for son’s killer was “wrong and unjust”.
The 18-year-old responsible for killing Mr Gent pleaded guilty to manslaughter earlier in the year and was sentenced yesterday to eight years in prison with a nonparole period of four years and nine months.
The killer was 17 at the time of the crime on June 17, 2016, and cannot be named.
In sentencing, Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth said she moderated the teenager’s sentence because of the “unduly harsh conditions” he had endured at the Grevillea unit at Barwon Prison.
She said he had “prospects of rehabilitation” and was of “above average intelligence”.
“Your early childhood trauma and deprivation, and the violence and racism of your adolescence, have all contributed to the development of the angry, immature and disengaged youth who committed this offence,” she said.
Outside court, Mr Gent’s mother, Anne Gent, said it was all “so wrong and unjust”.
“He should have got at least 10 years in jail — because he’s a youth and because there’s chance of rehabilitation? That’s bulls---, bulls---,” Ms Gent said.
“So he can get out in another 4½ years and kill someone else?”
She said she was left with “no boy, a broken family”, and another young son “who wants his brother — who’s always talking about him”.
Ms Gent described Nathan as “loveable boy”. She said he would “give you the shirt off his back and was always there to help”.
“He was my boy, I’ll miss him,” she said.
In a previous hearing, the court heard the teenager responsible had gone to the party in Norlane armed with a pocketknife and had been threatening to fight guests.
A prosecutor said one of the guests warned him, “if he wanted a fight he should go elsewhere”.
The court heard two gangs then formed outside the property — the teen and his friends were armed with knives on one side, while a group of guests stood facing them armed with bottles and fence palings.
“The deceased, who had not been involved in the incident, left the house and placed himself between the two groups,” the prosecutor said.
“The deceased was attempting to calm the situation when he was approached by the accused and stabbed once in the chest with the knife.”
He said the stabbing was delivered like a punch to the chest and Mr Gent could not be revived by paramedics.
In sentencing, Justice Hollingworth said it was in the “community’s interest, as well as your (the teenager) interests, that you be supported with appropriate education, programs and supervision”.
“Both in custody and on parole, to enable you to continue on the path of rehabilitation,” she said.