By Nick Vadasz
•
28 Nov, 2023
An early guilty plea and the submission of his background by Defence Lawyer Nick Vadasz saw Andrew Hallcroft receive the equal lowest term imposed on an adult for murder. Laws enacted in 2007 enforced a 20-year minimum non-parole period on an adult guilty of murder, unless ‘special reasons’ Hallcroft, however, was sentenced to a 15-year non-parole period. Justice Trish Kelly, presiding over the case, informed at sentencing that a guilty plea and submission from Nick Vadasz had met the ‘special reasons’ that entitled Hallcroft to a 30 per cent discount on his non-parole period, which she said would have been set at 22 years.