A Canberra man who killed another man he barely knew before dumping his body on Defence land will be eligible for parole seven months earlier than expected, judges have ruled.
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Milan Urlich, 32, was sentenced to a total of 10 years and six months in prison on October 4, 2018, for the manslaughter of Andrew Carville and for interfering with his dead body.
ACT Supreme Court Justice John Burns imposed a non-parole term of six years and 10 months.
At the time, Justice Burns described the killing as a senseless act, and suggested Urlich was "not particularly perturbed" by Mr Carville's death.
He had been helping a woman move out of Mr Carville's home about 10.30pm on November 4, 2015, when he put Mr Carville in a choke hold until he was dead. Justice Burns rejected Urlich's claim Mr Carville came at him first with a knife.
Afterwards, Urlich wrapped Mr Carville's body in a rug and put it on his ute, saying nothing to the woman he was helping move before dumping the truck in a paddock.
He stole a van from near the Australian War Memorial and fled to his brother's Victorian home.
When he came back to Canberra on November 14, 2015, Urlich returned to the truck and buried Mr Carville's body under several big rocks. He also tried but failed to set the truck alight with diesel.
Police found Mr Carville's badly decomposed body in a dry creek bed on Defence land in Majura on November 19.
In an appeal, Urlich claimed his sentence was "manifestly excessive". He said Justice Burns failed to discount it even though he made "significant admissions which greatly shortened the length of the trial", and did not explain his reasons why.
Three Court of Appeal judges ruled that although the sentence wasn't excessive, Urlich should have received a discounted sentence.
His overall sentence was reduced by six months to 10 years. His non-parole period was reduced by seven months to six years and three months, ending on July 27, 2022.