Steven Hunter

Case record: Steven Hunter

Background

Steven Hunter repeatedly reoffended while on parole.

Hunter was described as having a “volatile temperament” and “an intermittent explosive behaviour”.

Hunter was 47 years old at sentencing. He was dressed in a black shirt and jeans when Justice Kevin Bell delivered the sentence, and he remained emotionless.

Hunter’s estranged father, Murray Hunter, supported him in court and sat close to the prisoner’s dock, turning to look at him several times through the hearing. The court heard Hunter did not know if his dad was still alive after becoming estranged from him in 2002. Before that, their relationship had been only sporadic.

Hunter had a highly deprived upbringing, characterised by physical abuse, neglect, substance abuse and exposure to family violence. Justice Bell said:

“As a child, you were burnt with an iron and degraded for bed-wetting. In one terrible incident when you were aged only eight years, your father locked the three children into a room while he tied your mother to a chair. "You managed to get out of the room. Seeing your father put a shotgun into your mother’s mouth, you called your grandparents for help.”

Hunter’s stepfather was also violent towards him.

The offence

Hunter murdered Sarah Cafferkey. Justice Bell described her unprovoked murder as callous, calculating and brutal, and said it was in the “worst category of the most serious crime of murder”.

The court heard Sarah Cafferkey was bashed in the head with a hammer and stabbed up to 17 times on the night she died. Justice Bell said the stabbing was “shocking in its ferocity, especially given that Sarah was entirely defenceless”.

Post-mortem examination revealed Sarah Cafferkey had been stabbed 19 times in the head, neck, chest and abdomen.

The court heard an argument had erupted between the 22-year-old and Hunter at his Bacchus Marsh unit on November 20. Hunter told police Sarah became angry after mistakenly thinking he called her a “junkie”. During the argument he “snapped” after Sarah struck him on the back.

Hunter had completed his parole just nine days before murdering Sarah Cafferkey.

Investigation

After the murder, Hunter embarked on a plan to cover up the crime. He sent text messages to Sarah Cafferkey’s mobile phone, moved her body in his car, and entombed her in a wheelie bin filled with concrete and lime. He had asked a friend to help hide Sarah Cafferkey and had gone to Bunnings and bought products to help dispose of her body.

A post-mortem examination and forensic work confirmed a serious assault had occurred.

Hunter’s attempts to conceal the crime included buying 20 litres of hydrochloric acid, three bags of rapid-set concrete, a bag of lime and a black plastic sheet at Bunnings. He placed the body in the boot of his car and drove to a house at Point Cook where he placed it in a green wheelie bin in the garage. He poured concrete into the bin over the body, and it was too heavy to later get rid of because it had set.

Police reported Sarah missing after contact by SMS and follow-up calls to Bacchus Marsh police.

Police attended Hunter’s Bacchus Marsh unit, found blood stains at the rear of a sofa, and found a black leather jacket in the lounge room.

Police seized and scanned the wheelie bin at Point Cook after returning there. Forensic officers worked through the night and were unable to see the contents of the bin because the concrete contained set concrete. A CT scan of the bin later confirmed Sarah Cafferkey’s remains were inside.

Detectives launched a nationwide search for Hunter.

Investigators recovered CCTV from Bunnings for the items bought.

The court heard the neighbourhood response to police visits was limited early in the timeline. The later investigation included interviews with neighbourhood kids who reported hearing screams from the house next door. Later, investigators executed a warrant at the unit where Sarah had last been seen.

Investigators also questioned two other men over allegations they were involved in disposing of Sarah’s body and burning of evidence. A 32-year-old from Tarneit and a 34-year-old from Point Cook were questioned. The 34-year-old may not have known Sarah. Some possible accessories were not named.

A nationwide search and later arrest led to full admissions by Hunter after his arrest at a Hawthorn flat on November 20. It was understood he remembered hitting Sarah with a hammer but could not remember the knife attack.

During a record of interview following his arrest, Hunter told police he remembered hitting Sarah with a hammer but could not remember stabbing her. He said:

“I don’t understand why, I really don’t understand why,”
“I am nothing.”

He said he hoped to die in jail.

In earlier police contact, Hunter gave explanations including that he had been with Sarah on November 10 and left her at his unit alive and well at 5pm; he told officers she was gone when he returned the next day. Officers described not finding anything odd at one point, including finding a distressed dog left alone.

A message was provided by a friend. Sarah’s mother, Noelle Dickson, reported that Sarah had sent a haunting message in the weeks before she died:

“If anything happens, Ali knows where he is and where he lives.”

Arrest

Hunter was arrested three days after Sarah was reported missing, at a unit in Hawthorn. Police picked him up while he was hiding in Hawthorn.

After his arrest, Hunter made “full admissions” to police. It was understood he recalled hitting Sarah with a hammer but not the knife attack.

Trial

Hunter pleaded guilty to murdering Sarah Cafferkey.

At sentencing, Justice Kevin Bell addressed both the nature of the murder and the possibility of rehabilitation. Justice Bell said Hunter was “likely to remain powerful enough to represent an ongoing threat to the community even in old age”.

During the hearing, Dozens of Sarah Cafferkey’s family and friends watched the sentence hearing.

Sarah’s mother, Noelle Dickson, said she had faith in the justice system:

“Sarah was a beautiful young woman who had so much to live for. Bright, funny and caring,”
“Today I stand before you in the knowledge that justice has been served for our beautiful daughter, niece, cousin and friend.”

Noelle Dickson said she would continue to fight for change in the adult parole system. Adrian Cafferkey, Sarah’s dad, applauded Premier Denis Napthine's pledge to overhaul the system in the wake of a parole report by former High Court Judge Ian Callinan, and he said:

“But he needs to rest assured, us along with all the other families, will be watching the timeline for implementation very keenly,”

Hunter was supported in court mainly by his father Murray.

Psychologist James Ogloff told the court Hunter had a volatile temperament and “an intermittent explosive behaviour”. Professor Ogloff said Hunter was physically powerful and would continue to pose a significant risk to the community for the foreseeable future. Professor Ogloff said:

“He was quite fond of her,”

Hunter could not explain why he had committed both murders and believed he had had a close friendship with Sarah Cafferkey.

Sentencing

On August 21, 2013, Justice Kevin Bell sentenced Steven Hunter to life imprisonment with no parole for Sarah Cafferkey’s murder.

Justice Bell said:

“Your murder of Sarah shows you have a propensity for violence from which the community, and especially young women, need protection,”
“The crime which you committed was in the worst category of the most serious crime of murder.”
“In my view your case, is therefore, exceptional.”

Justice Bell said that while Hunter’s crime was monstrous, he was not a monster, and that Hunter was not a psychopath but had only very slight chance of rehabilitation.

Justice Bell said Hunter’s criminal career spanned 30 years, that he had murdered for the first time aged 21, and that he had spent most of his life in jail.

Hunter remained emotionless during the sentence.

A close friend of Hunter, Diane, sat alongside Hunter’s dad. Diane said she would make sure Hunter appealed against the sentence:

“He’ll be appealing because I’ll make sure he does,”
“He’s not a monster, the judge said he’s not a monster.”

Diane blamed drugs for the killing and said:

“I’m not saying he needs to have a chance, but he does need to live his elderly life as a human being not a caged animal,”
“When he’s 80 years old isn’t he going to be rehabilitated?”

Diane compared the sentence to that handed to Jill Meagher’s killer, Adrian Bayley, saying:

“Adrian Bayley got 35 years and he did horrendous, he was worse, he is an animal.”
“Justice hasn’t been done today, justice has been taken from a man who is a very nice man, when you know him”.

Appeals

Outcome

Hunter’s sentence was life imprisonment with no parole for Sarah Cafferkey’s murder on August 21, 2013.

Other details

Hunter previously murdered Jacqueline Mathews.

Hunter served a 13-year term for repeatedly stabbing 18-year-old Moonee Ponds woman Jacqueline Mathews in 1986 after she rejected his sexual advances.

On February 25, 1988, Hunter was jailed for 16 years with a minimum of 13 for the murder of Jacqueline Mathews. He was released on parole in December 2000.

Hunter once escaped from Pentridge Prison. On February 26, 1990, he escaped and was chased through the streets before being caught; he was jailed for four months.

The court heard Hunter’s parole was cancelled after March 2002 kidnapping activity in which he helped kidnap a man who he then tied, gagged and bashed. After police arrested him over the kidnapping, police found “deal bags” of amphetamines. Hunter was re-paroled in July 2002. Charges over the 2002 offences occurred in August 2003. In September 2004 he failed to appear at his court hearing, and in October 2004 he was arrested. In February 2005 he was jailed for driving offences. On April 27, 2005, he was jailed for at least four years and six months for theft, intentionally causing injury, false imprisonment and drug trafficking. On June 21, 2006, the sentence was reduced by six months by Court of Appeal. On November 1, 2012, his parole period ended.

For the murder of Sarah Cafferkey, Hunter was reported missing on November 12 by her mother, Noelle Dickson. Sarah’s body was found in the wheelie bin on November 17 in the garage of a Point Cook home. Police took the bin for forensic examination after noticing a foul odour emanating from it.

Hunter was sentenced on a date to be fixed. After his arrest, he was said to have bought hydrochloric acid and other items from Bunnings, moved the body to Point Cook, and used text messages and driving to conceal the offence.

Sarah’s ex-boyfriend, Chris Stewart, was involved in her final hours. The court heard Sarah’s last hours were spent with Chris Stewart before she bought alcohol to visit Hunter.

Sarah had a best friend, Ali.

Police had taken Sarah’s disappearance seriously after her mother contacted Bacchus Marsh police, including a text message sent to Hunter at 9.45pm to contact Bacchus Marsh police station. In a call from Bacchus Marsh police, Hunter explained Sarah had been with him on November 10 at his unit, they consumed alcohol, he left about 5pm and left her the keys. He said he returned the next day and she was gone.

Detectives from Wyndham Crime Investigation Unit became involved and arrived at the Point Cook house where Sarah’s body had been left, with no one home.

Sarah’s car was found soon afterwards, and homicide squad detectives seized the Astra the next day.

Hunter was next charged and then appeared in court, with Hunter due to appear before the Supreme Court on April 11.