By Ian Neubauer
An unprovoked shooting spree that left a man dead in Melbourne last year raises serious questions about late-night trading, a Supreme Court judge said at Monday’s (September 22) sentencing of convicted killer, Christopher Hudson.
“This community, in its attempt to come to grips with this offering, may have to decide whether what happened… was a consequence of an accepted culture which allows venues to operate at almost all hours, at which it seems that over-indulgence in alcohol is accepted if not encouraged, and at which the use of illicit drugs is at the very least tolerated,” The Australian reported Justice Paul Coghlan saying before sentencing Hudson to life in jail.
Hudson shot three people in the early hours of June 18 last year following an all-night drinking and drug-taking session at a number of nightclubs and strip bars in Melbourne’s King Street entertainment district.
Killed on the day was Brendan Keilar, a father of two who came to Douglas’s defence while Hudson attempted to drag her by her hair into an awaiting taxi. Another man who also came to Douglas’s defence, Dutch tourist Paul de Waard, was shot twice in the stomach but survived.
The court also heard how Hudson viciously assaulted dancer Autumn Daly-Holt before the killings, punching and kicking her and throwing her off a flight of stairs outside the club she worked at for no apparent reason.
Hudson will be able to apply for parole in 2043. He will be 65 and will have served a minimum of 35 years behind bars.
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