Auchterlonie’s murder in November 2010 took place at Belanglo State Forest, south west of Sydney, the same place where Ivan Milat, the notorious serial killer, dumped the bodies of several of his victims.
Matthew Milat, 19, will serve a minimum of 30 years behind bars, while his co-accused Cohen Klein will serve at least 22 of his 32-year sentence.
The pair pleaded guilty to 17-year-old Auchterlonie’s murder, however poetry written by Matthew Milat after his arrest revealed a lack of remorse.
I’m glad he got as long as he did,” Auchterlonie’s mother, Donna Locke, said.
“I will never ever be truly enough because David is gone and he can be released in time and go and live some of his life. But I’m just glad that he didn’t get any less.”
Auchterlonie was tortured and taunted before being fatally struck on the head by the axe, his murder recorded by Klein on a mobile phone.
During the sentence hearing, the XXX court in Sydney heard the audio, which revealed Auchterloie was forced to lie down in the dirt before he was killed.
The judge described the crime as a “thrill kill”.
The prosecution said there was no motive for the killing, and that Milat got an adrenaline rush from seeing someone being murdered.
They also claimed that Milat gloated over the murder, telling friends, “That’s what the Milats do.” That was taken to be a reference to his great-uncle.
Ivan Milat is currently serving a life sentence without parole in the high security Golbourn prison.
He was sentenced in 1996 for seven counts of murder.
