JOHN Justin Bunting - who tortured and dismembered victims he called "wastes and dirty pedophiles and homosexuals" - was confirmed as the nation's worst serial killer yesterday, found guilty of 11 gruesome murders.
Before a packed Adelaide courtroom, Bunting's co-accused in the notorious Snowtown bodies-in-barrels case, Robert Joe Wagner, 31, was found guilty of seven murders. He had already pleaded guilty to three others before the trial started.
Both were given automatic life sentences and will almost certainly die in jail.
Bunting, 37, was the ringleader in a cold-blooded campaign to kill suspected pedophiles and homosexuals, whom he labelled "dirty", and other victims he called "wastes". (Meet the killers)
During the 11-month, $15 million trial, the longest in South Australian history, prosecutor Wendy Abraham described the pair as "in the business of killing".
The case detailed torture, and heard that victims' bodies were cut in pieces, and kept as rotting trophy items in six barrels of hydrochloric acid.
The trial concluded on the seventh day of deliberations but, when the jury was ready to deliver its verdict, a defiant Bunting - squat, bespectacled, his hair trimmed short - refused to co-operate.
When he and Wagner were asked to stand to hear the verdicts, Bunting petulantly snapped: "No".
When Justice Brian Martin told Bunting he would prefer they stood, the killer retorted: "I would prefer you to tell the story about James Vlassakis and the deal that he made." (Bunting leaves axe murderer for dead)
Vlassakis, 23, once looked up to Bunting as a father figure but, in 2001, pleaded guilty to four murders, agreeing to give evidence as the star witness in the trial. He received life imprisonment and must serve a minimum of 26 years before being eligible for parole.
His testimony proved damning in a prosecution case that lasted 142 days. In the defence case, which lasted 80 minutes, lawyers for Bunting and Wagner could not hurt Vlassakis's testimony, where he referred to killing as "playing".
"They were the disease ... we were the cure and they had to be gone to the clinic to be cured, to make them good," Vlassakis told the court.
In May 1999, police had entered a vault in a disused bank at Snowtown, 150km north of Adelaide, and discovered eight bodies in six black plastic barrels. Over the next week, two more bodies were found buried in the backyard of Bunting's former home at 203 Waterloo Corner Road, Salisbury North, in Adelaide's northern suburbs.
A body found buried in a shallow grave at Lower Light, north of Adelaide, in 1994, and a body found hanging at Kersbrook, north of Adelaide, in 1997, were later added to the charges against Bunting and Wagner.
The victims were Clinton Trezise, 22; Ray Davies, 26; Michael Gardiner, 19; Barry Lane, 42; Thomas Trevilyan, 18; Gavin Porter, 29; Troy Youde, 21; Fred Brooks, 18; Gary O'Dwyer, 29; Elizabeth Haydon, 37; and David Johnson, 24. They were murdered between late 1992 and May 1999.
(The victims)
Bunting was found guilty of all 11 murders, while Wagner was found guilty of the murders of Davies, Gardiner, Trevilyan, Porter, Youde, O'Dwyer and Haydon.
He had already pleaded guilty to murdering Lane, Brooks and Johnson.
The jury was unable to reach verdicts for either accused over the death of Suzanne Allen, 47, whose dismembered body was found in 11 garbage bags in the backyard of 203 Waterloo Corner Road.
The court heard that Bunting and Wagner had said they had found Allen's body at her home and that she had died of natural causes, but that they had "sliced and diced" her body after death. (When Bunting met Wagner)
Justice Martin accepted the verdicts from the jury on the other counts, then discharged them from reaching a verdict on Allen's death.
Justice Martin praised the members of the jury for the job they had done.
"Can I tell you I don't underestimate the value of the service you have given to the community," Justice Martin said. "The community owes you a great debt of gratitude."
Bunting's counsel, Mark Griffin, told the court after sentencing that his client would not be making submissions about a non-parole period. Wagner's counsel, Stephen Apps, said his client had not given instructions.
Both men were remanded until October 29 for the determination of a non-parole period, including the hearing of witness impact statements.
Before a packed Adelaide courtroom, Bunting's co-accused in the notorious Snowtown bodies-in-barrels case, Robert Joe Wagner, 31, was found guilty of seven murders. He had already pleaded guilty to three others before the trial started.
Both were given automatic life sentences and will almost certainly die in jail.
Bunting, 37, was the ringleader in a cold-blooded campaign to kill suspected pedophiles and homosexuals, whom he labelled "dirty", and other victims he called "wastes". (Meet the killers)
During the 11-month, $15 million trial, the longest in South Australian history, prosecutor Wendy Abraham described the pair as "in the business of killing".
The case detailed torture, and heard that victims' bodies were cut in pieces, and kept as rotting trophy items in six barrels of hydrochloric acid.
The trial concluded on the seventh day of deliberations but, when the jury was ready to deliver its verdict, a defiant Bunting - squat, bespectacled, his hair trimmed short - refused to co-operate.
When he and Wagner were asked to stand to hear the verdicts, Bunting petulantly snapped: "No".
When Justice Brian Martin told Bunting he would prefer they stood, the killer retorted: "I would prefer you to tell the story about James Vlassakis and the deal that he made." (Bunting leaves axe murderer for dead)
Vlassakis, 23, once looked up to Bunting as a father figure but, in 2001, pleaded guilty to four murders, agreeing to give evidence as the star witness in the trial. He received life imprisonment and must serve a minimum of 26 years before being eligible for parole.
His testimony proved damning in a prosecution case that lasted 142 days. In the defence case, which lasted 80 minutes, lawyers for Bunting and Wagner could not hurt Vlassakis's testimony, where he referred to killing as "playing".
"They were the disease ... we were the cure and they had to be gone to the clinic to be cured, to make them good," Vlassakis told the court.
In May 1999, police had entered a vault in a disused bank at Snowtown, 150km north of Adelaide, and discovered eight bodies in six black plastic barrels. Over the next week, two more bodies were found buried in the backyard of Bunting's former home at 203 Waterloo Corner Road, Salisbury North, in Adelaide's northern suburbs.
A body found buried in a shallow grave at Lower Light, north of Adelaide, in 1994, and a body found hanging at Kersbrook, north of Adelaide, in 1997, were later added to the charges against Bunting and Wagner.
The victims were Clinton Trezise, 22; Ray Davies, 26; Michael Gardiner, 19; Barry Lane, 42; Thomas Trevilyan, 18; Gavin Porter, 29; Troy Youde, 21; Fred Brooks, 18; Gary O'Dwyer, 29; Elizabeth Haydon, 37; and David Johnson, 24. They were murdered between late 1992 and May 1999.
(The victims)
Bunting was found guilty of all 11 murders, while Wagner was found guilty of the murders of Davies, Gardiner, Trevilyan, Porter, Youde, O'Dwyer and Haydon.
He had already pleaded guilty to murdering Lane, Brooks and Johnson.
The jury was unable to reach verdicts for either accused over the death of Suzanne Allen, 47, whose dismembered body was found in 11 garbage bags in the backyard of 203 Waterloo Corner Road.
The court heard that Bunting and Wagner had said they had found Allen's body at her home and that she had died of natural causes, but that they had "sliced and diced" her body after death. (When Bunting met Wagner)
Justice Martin accepted the verdicts from the jury on the other counts, then discharged them from reaching a verdict on Allen's death.
Justice Martin praised the members of the jury for the job they had done.
"Can I tell you I don't underestimate the value of the service you have given to the community," Justice Martin said. "The community owes you a great debt of gratitude."
Bunting's counsel, Mark Griffin, told the court after sentencing that his client would not be making submissions about a non-parole period. Wagner's counsel, Stephen Apps, said his client had not given instructions.
Both men were remanded until October 29 for the determination of a non-parole period, including the hearing of witness impact statements.
