A WANNABE serial killer who dubbed himself "the hand of death" and killed two homeless men before slashing the throat of another inmate at Cessnock jail should spend the rest of his life behind bars for what prosecutors have labelled "a brutal and callous killing".
And the push for Kevin James Pettiford to receive a life sentence comes as the daughter of one of his victims read a statement about the impacts of the 38-year-old's "evil choice", saying he should be held accountable for his "disgusting and pathetic act".
Pettiford used a large rock to bludgeon Andrew Murray to death while he slept rough in Jack Evans Boat Harbour park at Tweed Heads on November 21, 2019, a murder that Crown prosecutor Brendan Campbell said on Thursday fell into the worst category.
"It represented a denial of Mr Murray's humanity," Mr Campbell said. "The murder was of such a nature that a sentence of life imprisonment is the only sentence that should be imposed."
About two months before he murdered Mr Murray, Pettiford had killed another homeless man, David Collin, as he slept in Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast.
After his arrest aboard a bus bound for Sydney where he planned to kill more homeless people, Pettiford admitted to the killings, describing his long-standing homicidal ideation and violent urges and his thinking when killing Mr Murray.
"I know I am evil, right," Pettiford said during one of many police interviews. "But I always say calculated and controlled evil.
"I saw the person there," Pettiford said of Mr Murray. "I thought should I, shouldn't I, should I, shouldn't I. Back and forth, back and forth. Then boom, did it. Caved his head in. I just hit his head with the rock."
And like Mr Murray, he said he targeted Mr Collin because he always wanted to kill and picked someone who he thought would not be missed.
He referred to the people he killed as "the lesser life" or "lesser death" and justified the acts as a way to satisfy his murderous urges without killing people he thought would be mourned.
And, after his arrest, and when he chose to strike again, he targeted fellow Cessnock jail inmate Nathan Mellows because he said Mellows had "no one and nowhere to go when he got out".
But after deliberating for two days, Pettiford was found guilty of both counts - the jury perhaps convinced Pettiford's thought process around killing Mr Murray showed the 38-year-old vagrant and wannabe serial killer knew right from wrong.
Mr Murray's daughter said Pettiford had made "a choice, an evil choice" that had changed her family forever.
She said her father had a "wicked sense of humour" and was "far too smart for his own good".
She said waiting four years for the trial had left her wondering if her father had been forgotten.
The court heard there is a murder warrant outstanding for Pettiford in Queensland and he is expected to face a similar trial in that jurisdiction at a later date.
Until then, Pettiford will first be sentenced in NSW and could face life imprisonment when Justice Hament Dhanji delivers judgment next month.
