NSW:Mum killer who demanded long jail term 'dangerous' - brother
By Nicky Park19 Dec 2008 2:58 PM
EDS: Closes off earlier story
SYDNEY, Dec 19 AAP - A man who murdered his mother in her bed is a dangerous master of deceit who only asked a court for a tough jail term so he could gain "maximum notoriety," his brother says.
Adam Patrick Owens, 36, shouted "manifestly inadequate" as Justice Lucy McCallum jailed him on Friday for at least 17 years for the stabbing murder of his mother, 69-year-old environmentalist Doris Owens.
Earlier this month, Owens told the NSW Supreme Court his only regret was that he hadn't murdered her 20 years earlier.
The former political adviser from Cremorne said he would do it again if he had his time over.
The confessed murderer's lawyer had asked the court to impose "the maximum sentence" on his client.
But Owens' desire for the harshest sentence possible was dismissed by Justice McCallum, who said she could not believe such a request had come from someone of sound mind.
Outside the court, Caleb Owens said his brother had wanted a life jail term in order to win "maximum notoriety" for his crimes, like serial killer "Jack the Ripper".
He also described his brother as a "Talented Mr Ripley" figure.
"That's what makes him so dangerous," Dr Owens told reporters.
"He is so good at talking to people, at deceiving people, at lying to people.
"I'm sure ... many people have suffered at the hands of Adam Owens."
Owens stabbed his mother to death in her home at Swanhaven on the NSW south coast, in September 2006.
He pleaded guilty to the murder on the day his trial had been due to start so it could not be considered a mitigating factor in his sentence.
In sentencing Owens, Justice McCallum said he had been "quite frank, indeed almost boastful" during his hearing, as he admitted what he'd done.
She noted that some of his statements were "calculated to produce a dramatic effect" and that a mental assessment suggested he had a "narcissistic personality disorder" and suffered from depression.
However Justice McCallum found these were not mitigating factors in the crime.
She said she was not satisfied that the killing had been premeditated for 20 years, as Owens would have been 12 at that time. But she accepted he had previously contemplated murdering his mother.
During the hearing, Owens told the judge she would be right to draw from the evidence that the murder was premeditated.
During his testimony, he did not reveal how how he had travelled to Swanhaven, but suggested it was not by any usual means.
"If people tavel by covert or clandestine means then surely they must be up to no good," he told Justice McCallum.
"If your Honour were to draw from that conclusions relating to pre-meditation that would almost certainly be quite correct."
Justice McCallum sentenced Owens to a minimum 17 years, and a maximum of 23, prompting Owens to yell "manifestly inadequate" before he was taken away.
