Father of man murdered in Adelaide outraged over leniency given to killer

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The father of a man brutally murdered in 2019 has expressed mixed emotions at seeing his son’s killer sentenced. Michael Purse disappeared from the Adelaide CBD over six years ago and his body has never been found. While his father Jeffrey Purse welcomed the life sentence handed to Mark-Bry Leedham, he expressed outrage at the leniency given to another man convicted over his son’s death.

Transcript

00:00Justice for the Peirce family, but no reprieve from the grief.

00:06It's completely changed our lives. Our life will never be the same again.

00:10We're just going to have to slowly work through it.

00:12The life sentence handed to Mark Bryleedham for murdering 32-year-old Michael,

00:17a bittersweet end to six years of torment.

00:20He's been a bit of a clown all this time and we've gotten the last laugh.

00:24Michael Peirce disappeared from the CBD in February 2019

00:28and despite extensive police searches, his body has never been found.

00:32Leedham was one of the three men charged along with David Young and Edward Hinrichsen.

00:37They've already been sentenced to 11 years behind bars after pleading guilty to manslaughter.

00:42Michael's father Jeffrey says while he's satisfied with Leedham's sentence,

00:46he's learned Hinrichsen has moved to a low-security prison in the Riverland.

00:50It's disgusting. The people of South Australia will be appalled about this.

00:54It defies our sensibilities.

00:56He'll be getting hot chocolate and slippers overnight.

00:59He asked the Department of Corrections to review the decision.

01:02This is for low-risk prisoners and he will be putting those prisoners at risk.

01:07And also the staff there aren't expecting such a violent prisoner to be there.

01:11The Corrections Department told Mr Peirce it had conducted a review

01:15and that Cadell Training Centre was deemed appropriate.

01:19But the Department has since told the ABC it's conducting yet another review into Hinrichsen's placement.

01:26And while that's done, the prisoner will be moved to a medium-security facility.

01:30In sentencing, a Supreme Court justice condemned Leedham's lack of remorse,

01:35who is now the third person jailed over the brutal murder.

01:39He set a non-parole period of 28 years, including four years from an earlier conviction.

01:45And that's what we're doing.

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