LANDMARK KILL CASE
‘ No body, no parole’ rule used
AN INNISFAIL man has become the first person to be sentenced under new laws that attempt to force killers to reveal the location of their victims. Graeme Colin Evans, 43, faced the Supreme Court in Townsville yesterday and was sentenced to nine years’ jail for the manslaughter of his partner Leeann Lapham in 2010.
AN INNISFAIL man who bashed his partner to death has become the first person sentenced under laws that compel killers to reveal the location of their victim’s body.
Under “no body, no parole” laws passed in August, killers must lead police to their victims or face never being considered for parole.
Graeme Colin Evans, 43, faced the Supreme Court in Townsville yesterday for the manslaughter of Leeann Lapham in 2010, where Justice David North sentenced him to nine years’ jail.
Ms Lapham, 30, was last seen at Innisfail’s Riverside Motel in April 2010 and Evans had denied involvement in her disappearance.
Evans ( pictured) was originally charged with murder in February 2017 but last month led police to a spot at Cowley Beach where he had dumped Ms Lapham’s body.
Detective Inspector Geoff Marsh said if Evans had not revealed the location, the body would not have been found. Evans pleaded guilty to manslaughter and interference with a corpse.
The court was told Ms Lapham and Evans had been staying at the motel on April 19, 2010 when they had a fight relating to a packet of bacon.
Crown prosecutor Nigel Rees said Evans punched Ms Lapham during a struggle and in a psychologist’s report where Evans described the fight “indicated that he felt the skull give way”.
Their three- week- old son was in the room at the time.
Mr Rees said Evans then put Ms Lapham’s body in a sleeping bag and dumped her.
“He’s dumped her clothes and sleeping bag in one location and her body in another,” he said.
A victim impact statement by Ms Lapham’s mother Kerry Johnson described Ms Lapham as a “bright and bubbly girl”.
“We were mother and daughter but also best friends,” she wrote. “There is a hole in my heart and in my life. I think of her every day.”
Ms Johnson wrote she had not wanted to believe her daughter was dead.
Justice North described the fight as “a brutal bashing” and said if Evans had not revealed where he had disposed of the body, the sentence would have been longer.
Evans was sentenced to nine years for manslaughter and six months for interference with a corpse, to be served concurrently.
A parole eligibility date was set for February 8, 2021.
Outside court detective Senior Sergeant Chris Knight said it was important to police to return bodies to families so they “could get the dignified farewell they so rightly deserved”.
A funeral will be held for Ms Lapham next month.