Relative of backpacker killer Ivan Milat jailed for copycat murder
Matthew Milat, a relative of the notorious backpacker killer Ivan Milat, has been sentenced to 43 years in jail for the brutal copycat murder of a teenager who was subject to “almost inconceivable torment and torture”.
Milat murdered his friend, David Auchterlonie, with a double-sided axe after luring the victim to the same forest where his great uncle killed seven backpackers in the early 1990s.
Milat, now 19, along with an accomplice, Cohen Klein, and a third friend, Chase Day, who has not been charged, persuaded David to come to the forest with the promise of smoking cannabis and drinking to celebrate the victim’s 17th birthday in November 2010.
Milat’s sentence came with a 30-year non-parole period. His accomplice, Klein, who the court heard was “strongly influenced” by Milat, was sentenced to 32 years in jail with a 22-year non-parole period.