Jail for killer of veteran

A MAN who killed a Good Samaritan who was trying to stop him from attacking his ex-girlfriend has been sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in jail.

Norman Olsen’s family watched on in the Toowoomba Supreme Court as James Darren Callow was sentenced over the Vietnam veteran’s manslaughter yesterday.

Mr Olsen, from Tweed Heads, died in a Brisbane hospital in February 2016, days after Callow punched and kneed him, causing him to smash his head on a Toowoomba road.

The 65-year-old had stopped his car to intervene in the incident and tried to restrain Callow.

“Sorry, but you shouldn’t have butted in,” Callow was heard to say after attacking Mr Olsen, crown prosecutor Liz Kelso told the court.

Before the incident Callow had been denied a same-day loan and was ranting about having “no smokes” and “no cones”.

Mr Olsen’s daughter, Kate Lowe, delivered a powerful victim impact statement at yesterday’s sentencing.

She shook with emotion as she stared down Callow and described the close bond she had formed with her father.

Ms Lowe said she regularly dreamed her father was still alive and dwelt on the fact that he was only in Toowoomba to help her set up her new home.

“I struggle to forgive myself,” she said. “No words can truly describe the impact the loss of my dad has had.”

Justice Peter Applegarth issued a non-parole period of four-and-a-half years, meaning Callow could be eligible for release in June 2020.

He praised Mr Olsen’s “heroic intervention” and said his attempts to stop Callow were reasonable and admirable.