A 20-year-old man has been sentenced to at least 14 years in prison for murdering an elderly Perth woman, who was bashed and robbed in her home in October 2019.
The offender, who cannot be identified, was only five days short of his 18th birthday when he broke into the Swan View home of 71-year-old Odette Feige after turning off the power.
Ms Feige, who was sitting in an armchair in the lounge room, was struck at least twice to the head before the teenager ransacked her house and fled, taking her handbag, jewellery, and car, which he used in another burglary the next day.
A carer found Ms Feige hours later lying on the floor in a pool of blood.
She was rushed to hospital where she remained bedridden for four weeks before suffering complications, including a chest infection, that eventually claimed her life.
The man stood trial as a teenager earlier this year before a Supreme Court jury.
While he admitted he had broken into Ms Feige's home, he claimed he was not responsible for attacking her.
His legal team suggested an older relative may have inflicted the blows on Ms Feige and that when the violence happened, the teenager panicked and fled.
The jury rejected his defence and convicted him of murder.
The evidence against him included recordings made while he was in custody at Banksia Hill Detention Centre in which he laughed and referred to Ms Feige in what Justice Bruno Fiannaca described as "derogatory and disgraceful language".
The offender, who is now aged 20, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a 14-year minimum.
Justice Fiannaca said he reduced the minimum term to take into account that the offender was a juvenile, and not an adult, at the time he inflicted the life-endangering injuries on Ms Feige.
The man also admitted a string of other offences committed around the same time, including home burglaries and car theft, for which he was sentenced to to five years and eight months in jail.
That sentence will be served at the same time as the life term he received for murder.
'A good soul'
Outside the court Ms Feige's daughter, Sarah Davis, fought back tears as she described the sentence as fair, but said her mother did not deserve what happened to her.
"I'm just glad it's all over. It's been a long three years. Mum deserved a lot better," she said.
"She was a good soul, tried to help when she could and just didn't deserve it.
"Never in a million years would I have thought something like this would happen to us, but it has, we've just got to move on."
