A second man has been sentenced to life in jail for a murder where the victim's body was found in a wheelie bin floating in a dam in Perth's east.
WARNING: Some readers may find details in this story distressing.
Gervaise Widdowson, 33, was found guilty last year, along with his friend Todd Kiernan, of murdering 51-year-old Dinh Lam Nguyen, who was hit over the head with a tomahawk before being repeatedly stabbed.
Kiernan inflicted the fatal wounds after luring Mr Nguyn to his home in Mahagony Creek in January 2021 on the pretext that he was going to repay some of the $4,000 he owned him for a drug debt.
Widdowson was present and after Mr Nguyen's murder, he helped Kiernan dispose of his car and his body, which was stripped naked, tied up with cable ties, and put in the bin.
The bin was then taken to the John Forrest National Park where it was weighed down with a tree branch and a sack of concrete.
However, a few days later, a teenage boy saw it floating on the surface and Mr Nguyen's body was discovered.
Body labelled with killer's name
Police tracked Kiernan down because the plastic the body was wrapped in had a label with his name on it, and there was also rubbish in the bottom of the bin that had a letter addressed to him.
Widdowson was arrested after an anonymous tip off to CrimeStoppers.
In the Supreme Court on Monday, Justice Stephen Hall said he accepted the murder was not pre-meditated but happened while the two men were trying to "threaten and intimidate" Mr Nguyen.
He said the possibility that the plan would end in violence and Mr Nguyen's death must have been obvious.
Justice Hall accepted that Widdowson's culpability was less than Kiernan's because he had not inflicted any of the fatal wounds, but he described the 33-year old's participation in the plan as "foolish".
"You had nothing to gain by your involvement," he told Widdowson.
Justice Hall also accepted that Widdowson was genuinely remorseful for what he had done, and also noted he had made admissions to police after his arrest.
He sentenced Widdowson to life in prison and ordered that he serve a minimum of 13 years before he can be considered for parole.
That's a lesser minimum term that Kiernan, who last year was sentenced to life with a 19-year non parole period.
