A Canberra man who robbed and murdered Liang Zhao as he walked along Northbourne Avenue has been sentenced to 17 years' jail.
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But he will be released from custody in 2022 aged 28.
The young man, who cannot be named as he was a juvenile at the time, was sentenced by Acting Chief Justice Richard Refshauge on Tuesday for the August 2011 murder.
Mr Zhao's bloodied and broken body was discovered about 6.40am on August 4. The 27-year-old university graduate had arrived at the Jolimont Centre in Civic about 4am on a bus from Melbourne.
Mr Zhao could not find a taxi so called his mother and began walking home to Gungahlin along Northbourne Avenue in the hope of meeting her along the way.
Meanwhile, the juvenile and his co-offender, Taylor Schmidt, who had armed themselves with a machete and baseball bat with the intention of committing a robbery, were walking towards the city along the busy thoroughfare.
They confronted Mr Zhao, knocked him to the ground and dragged him several metres from the footpath where they took his mobile phone and $21 cash.
Schmidt struck Mr Zhao with the bat, which caused him to cry out.
The juvenile then tried to frighten Mr Zhao into silence by swinging the machete in a threatening manner and telling him to ''be quiet, shut up, don't tell the cops''.
The offender hit the deceased in the wrist with the weapon, causing him to scream in pain. They then fatally beat him, breaking his skull and leaving his brain exposed.
The juvenile, now 19 but who was 17 at the time of the murder, and Schmidt, pleaded guilty to murder in the Supreme Court last month.
The offender wrote a letter, read out at a September sentencing hearing, in which he apologised to Mr Zhao's family and his own for the pain and suffering he had caused.
He said wished he could switch places with Mr Zhao.
Justice Refshauge accepted the man's remorse and that he had not intended to kill the victim. In handing down sentence on Tuesday, the judge described the attack as ''unprovoked, cowardly, brutal, indescribably vicious and ultimately fatal. There is [no offence] more serious.''
Justice Refshauge jailed the juvenile for 17 years. But the judge ordered the jail term be suspended after 10 years and six months upon entering a good behaviour order for the remainder of the sentence.
The order means he will be automatically released in February 2022 without applying for parole.
Family members of Mr Zhao and the defendant wept as the judge handed down the sentence.
Mr Zhao's mother, who cannot speak English, was visibly upset as she left the courthouse accompanied by police.
Schmidt will appear for sentence later in October.