7-22-2008 Australia:
A convicted pedophile represented everyone who had ever abused the young Adelaide man who killed him in a primal rage, a court was told today.
Timothy Hemi Schaefer, 19, went to the home of Jeffrey Edwin Payne, 56, in Adelaide in April 2007, called him a "pedo", punched him and stabbed him in the leg.
Drunk and taunting his victim, Schaefer followed Payne across parklands before strangling and stabbing him and stomping on his head, the South Australian Supreme Court has heard after Schaefer pleaded guilty to murder.
Prosecutor Jane Powell said there was an element of "sanguinary" to the crime, with Schaefer stopping to smoke a cigarette during the brutal and prolonged attack.
Schaefer had never expressed remorse for killing Mr Payne, who was an extremely thin man, weighing just 47 kilograms, with ulcers and emphysema, she said.
"In fact, during his interview with police he referred to Mr Payne as a sack of shit," Ms Powell said.
"He would have had to hear and feel the sounds of the bones fracturing under foot."
Schaefer's lawyer Greg Mead said there was no clear motive for the crime.
But it appeared that, in Schaefer's drunk and enraged state, Payne had come to represent all the people who ever had abused him.
"He snapped ... he said to police, 'I just got heaps angry,' " Mr Mead said.
One of nine children, Schaefer suffered "a living hell" at the hands of a violent, alcoholic father who beat him every day, his lawyer said.
After his mother left, his father would abandon the children for weeks at a time, leaving them at the mercy of two friends who would sexually abuse some of them.
"He was fed rotten meat, his father would have to scrape the slime off," Mr Mead said.
"It was the cruelty and brutality of those early years that led to this almost primal expression of rage."
Judge John Sulan said the crime had "all the characteristics of a frenzied attack" and Schaefer could expect to be jailed for a long time.
He also said Schaefer had been "destroyed" by his appalling early life.
He ordered a neurological report to investigate possible damage from Schaefer being beaten with hammers in an earlier, unrelated attack.
Schaefer, who faces a possible life term, was remanded in custody for sentencing at a date to be set.
..News Source.. by smh.com
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Abused teenager jailed for murdering pedophile
10-7-2008 Australia:
STATE welfare authorities "failed" an abused and damaged teenager who went on to viciously murder a convicted pedophile, the Supreme Court has heard.
Timothy Hemi Schaefer was today described as a "damaged little boy" whose pent-up anger erupted in a prolonged and barbaric attack on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Edwin Payne, 56.
Schaefer, 20, will spend at least 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to Payne's murder outside his Northfield home in April 2007.
The convicted sex offender had been throttled unconscious, stabbed in the leg and face and had his skull crushed in the late-night attack.
Schaefer took time to smoke a cigarette during the brutal assault and later described his victim as a "sack of shit" during a police interview.
Justice John Sulan said Schaefer and a number of other boys had regularly gone to Payne's home in the years leading up to the murder.
"For a number of years (Payne) was regularly visited by young boys and he provided them with cigarettes alcohol and marijuana in exchange for sexual favours," Justice Sulan said.
"He had convictions for offences of a sexual nature against teenage boys and had been imprisoned in the past for sex offences against young boys."
Payne was mentioned during sentencing submissions for convicted Snowtown serial killer James Vlassakis, who is serving a life jail term for four murders.
Justice Sulan said Schaefer was drunk and angry when he went to Payne's home on the night of the killing and found there were "sexual connotations behind the attack."
Justice Sulan said Schaefer had endured a chaotic and dysfunctional childhood with an alcoholic mother and an abusive father, who routinely beat his five children and fed them rotten meat.
The judge referred to a letter from Schaefer's aunt, who described him as "a bright and intelligent child who grew up in circumstances of chaos and dysfunction" and became a "damaged little boy."
"In my opinion the state failed him as a child," the letter said.
Justice Sulan said Schaefer's problems were compounded when he suffered serious head injuries when assaulted with a hammer as a 17-year old.
He said Schaefer needed intensive psychiatric help to overcome his many problems.
"Sadly, it appears that you will not receive the treatment that you require while you are in custody," he said.
..News Source.. by ANDREW DOWDELL, COURT REPORTER
7-24-2008 California: