The man who shot and killed prisoner Nicholas Scott hours after he escaped from the Royal Hobart Hospital has been sentenced to eight years in jail.
During his appearance at the Supreme Court in Hobart on Thursday, 45-year-old David Ian Charles Coles pleaded guilty to one charge of manslaughter, as reported by the ABC, having initially denied murder.
Police were called to the murder scene on Black Snake Road in Granton, north of Hobart, around midnight on January 2, 2023, after a gunshot was reported.
According to the ABC, the court heard that Coles showed up at the home not intending to cause death but reacted after being struck on the head with a bottle by Scott.
The court was told Coles fired a shotgun from a distance of around three to four metres away, causing Scott to suffer from acute blood loss from a single gunshot wound to the chest.
Coles disposed of the firearm over a fence, withdrew almost $10,000 in cash and went on the run for six days before being intercepted by police.
During sentencing, Acting Justice David Porter noted Coles’ difficult upbringing, struggles with drug addiction and past time he had spent in youth detention.
“Taking a human life is always a serious matter,” he said.
Coles had his sentence backdated to May 2023 and will become eligible for parole after serving four years of his eight-year term.
