Westfield shooter appeals against sentence

A MAN convicted of shooting his former wife in the head in front of their children in a crowded Gold Coast shopping centre car park is appealing the severity of his sentence.

John Jesse Stephens says his 15-year jail term is excessive and should be reduced because he has narcissistic personality disorder.

Next Wednesday will be three years to the day since Stephens fired at his ex-wife in the Helensvale Westfield car park. The shocking act of domestic violence happened in front of dozens of shoppers.

Several bystanders ran to Stephen’s former wife’s aid, disarming him when his sawnoff .22 calibre rifle jammed.

Stephens, 46, was jailed in March for attempted murder.

His terrified former wife earlier this year told the Bulletin 15 years was not long enough, and she would leave the country.

But Stephens is claiming he should have been given a shorter sentence, because the courts failed to adequately recognise his cocktail of mental health and addiction issues, and the fact he handed himself in.

At the Queensland Court of Appeal yesterday barrister Alastair McDougall said the jail term, which meant Stephens must serve at least 12 years in custody, was “manifestly excessive.”

The appeal court judges said Stephens would have to convince them his mental illness lessened his moral culpability for the 2014 Helensvale shooting.

“I’m looking for something that says it actually had an impact on the things he did that day,” Chief Justice Catherine Holmes said.

The appeal court reserved its decision, which will be handed down at a later date.