Peter Rule was killed to protect the location of a cannabis crop. Source: Herald Sun
A COLD-blooded killer who shot a man, hacked his body with a chainsaw and dissolved the pieces in acid to protect his cannabis-growing business will spend the next 16½ years in jail.
Justice Lex Lasry told Leonard Borg, 28, the brutal degradation of Peter Rule's body to protect his criminal enterprise was "dreadful".
"The murder of Peter Rule was a planned, calculated killing and was particularly callous," Justice Lasry said.
The Victorian Supreme Court heard Borg feared Mr Rule, 56, would dob him in to police over a hydroponic cannabis crop and decided he had to kill him to protect his investment.
Borg lured Mr Rule, whom he had known for years, to a Campbellfield factory and shot him with a .22 semi-automatic rifle on November 15, 2009.
The body was taken to a Thomastown factory, where Borg and Michael Spiropoulos grew a cannabis crop.
The next day Borg burned the body in a 44-gallon drum. The remains were cut up, crushed and placed in a tub of hydrochloric acid.
The three-day process ended with Borg and Spiropoulos, driven by fear to help his business partner, disposed of the remains on the Great Ocean Rd.
Justice Lasry said Borg wrongly believed Mr Rule had previously tipped off police about one of his marijuana cops.
He said police were in fact alerted to the illegal enterprise by a Crime Stoppers tip from an anonymous female.
Spiropoulos eventually confessed to police that he assisted Borg dispose of the body and cultivated narcotic plants.
He was sentenced to a three-year suspended sentence and two-year community-based order on the basis that he would give evidence against Borg.
Borg, of Mickleham, pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Rule, of Meadow Heights, but a jury found otherwise in April.
Outside court, Mr Rule's brother Mark said the sentence could "never be enough".
"We've lost a brother over something so stupid," he said.
"The world's got some evil people, but it's only a minority fortunately, so hopefully we can walk along the street safely with another one put away."
His sister, Stella McNaughton, said her 14-year-old nephew was hit the hardest by the loss.
The teenager expressed his devastation at losing his father – with whom he was "the best of friends"- through a victim impact statement at a pre-sentence hearing.
"When I found out the news about my father and what had happened, all I could do was cry and cry because I missed him so much and I wish and wish that none of this had ever happened," the statement said.
"For a while I didn't know what to do with myself because I wanted to be with him so very much.
"I was extremely shocked that Leonard Borg would have the heart to do something like that after my father was so kind and open-hearted, not just to him but to everyone else as well."
Justice Lasry said the community would not tolerate gross violence to protect financial benefit from criminal activities.
"You are still a young man but your conduct has had the effect of ruining what should be the prime of your life," he told Borg, who remained expressionless but appeared to be listening intently throughout the sentence.
Borg was convicted of murder, handling stolen goods and cultivating a narcotic plant.
He was sentenced to a total effective sentence of 23 years and 9 months, with a non-parole period of 19 years and has already served 943 days in pre-sentence detention.
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