An “execution-style killing” that resulted in the murder of a young Tasmanian man has been revealed by a coroner to have been carried out with ‘at least three’ gunshots by a friend.
In 2018, 24-year-old Jake Daniel Anderson-Brettner was fatally shot in the torso with a self-loading pistol equipped with a silencer, fired by friend Jack Harrison Vincent Sadler.
Sadler, who had known Brettner for four years, pulled the trigger inside a ready-made room lined with builder’s plastic, which had been purchased by his fiancee Gemma Clark the day before.
During Clark’s shopping trip, she also bought bleach, firelighters, disposable gloves, disposable overalls, safety glasses, a saw, cling wrap, vinegar, reusable bags, cayenne pepper and chili powder to use in the disposing of the body.
In his findings, Coroner Robert Webster said that one shot had entered through Brettner’s back, while the other two inflicted damage to his heart.
“Justice Pearce, in sentencing, indicated he was satisfied one of the shots was fired when Mr Anderson-Brettner was lying on the ground,” Coroner Webster said.
“He went on to say the fact he was shot from within the room, the number and location of the bullet wounds, and the evidence that one of the shots was fired when he was on the ground led him to conclude there was no room for any doubt Mr Anderson-Brettner had been shot by someone who intended to kill him.”
After the murder, Sadler and Clark disposed of the body by driving 40km outside of Launceston, where they dumped his wrapped torso into a steep bank off the Tasman Highway.
The pair then returned home and went online to check the collection schedule for rubbish bins in Launceston the following day.
They placed body parts in bags mixed with vinegar, baby oil, pepper and chili powder to “disguise any odor” and hid them in wheelie bins throughout the city.
Sadler was found guilty of murder by a jury and was sentenced to 32 years in jail, with a non-parole period of 20 years.
His appeal against the sentence was rejected.
His fiancee, Gemma Clark, pleaded guilty to failing to report the killing and being an accessory after the fact to murder.
She was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in jail.
The sentencing judge Justice Pearce indicated that the murder was likely the result of a disagreement about drugs between Sadler and Brettner.
