Supreme Court Judge, Justice John McKechnie, has sentenced Gerardus Gerrit Heijne to life in prison after a jury found him guilty of the murder of his long-time partner, Frank Cianciosi.
The sentence includes a non-parole period of 13 ½ years and will be backdated to include the 17 months Mr Heijne has already spent behind bars.
Throughout the trial, Mr Heijne maintained that he had not intended to strangle his partner but was defending himself after being struck during an argument over the pair’s business as the master franchisees of chicken products chain, Lenard’s.
According to prosecutor, Bruno Fiannaca, the argument had not been about the couple’s business but about Mr Heijne’s relationship with a 19-year-old man, Mr X, whose name was suppressed by the courts.
Mr Fiannaca claimed that Mr Heijne was obsessed with Mr X and had killed his partner of 25 years to start a new life with his younger lover.
During his testimony, Mr Heijne had denied the claims saying that he loved Mr Cianciosi, who was aware of his sexual adventures with other men.
‘He (Mr Cianciosi) knew it meant nothing to me. It was just physical,’ Hr Heijne said.
‘I had a husband at home, a young lover at work, why would I want to stuff that up?’
Judge and jury were not convinced by Mr Heijne’s account, with the jury taking under four hours to come back with their guilty verdict.
In sentencing, Justice McKechnie told Mr Heijne he was persuaded of the accused man’s obsession with Mr X and that he was quite prepared to lie in order to get himself out of a difficult situation.
Justice McKechnie said the case was a ‘classic tale of a middle aged man losing his attractiveness and taking up bodybuilding and a young lover’.
Surrounded by family, Mr Cianciosi’s brother-in-law, Gino Stefani, read from a statement outside the court.
‘No verdict or sentence will bring Frank back,’ he said.
‘As for Mr Heijne, who is a son, a brother, and an uncle, he will be remembered by us as someone who betrayed us by committing this murder.’
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