An accountant sentenced to 13 years behind bars for hitting an Oz Lotto winner with a plastic-wrapped sledgehammer has been quietly released on parole.
Peter Joseph Kelly, 66, had power over $5 million in lottery winnings when he murdered Maria Lourdes Devrell at her Tamworth home in 2011.
The New South Wales man had been the couple’s accountant for 25 years when he hit Ms Devrell with the cling-film-covered sledgehammer and gagged her with his hand in a row over what he considered “wasteful” spending.
Mrs Devrell’s daughter later discovered her mother’s body in a pool of blood and an autopsy found she had died of asphyxiation.
Kelly pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 18 years behind bars and 13 years without the possibility of parole.
Now the NSW State Parole Authority’s serious offender review board has voted in favor of Kelly’s early release before his non-parole period expires.
The review board noted Kelly’s compliance with all instructions on the day of his release and that he had completed several vocational courses.
Community corrections staff also reportedly supported Kelly’s release on parole, citing completion of a therapeutic program in custody.
Peter Joseph Kelly, 66, from New South Wales, had power over $5 million in lottery winnings when he murdered Maria Lourdes Devrell (pictured) at her Tamworth home in 2011.
He has been considered to have a low risk of recidivism.
Kelly is understood to have been released from the Geoffrey Pearce Correctional Center near Windsor this week.
In addition to other conditions, Kelly is not allowed to contact Mrs. Devrell’s family.
A court previously heard that Ms Devrell and Kelly, who had been entrusted with managing her $5 million Oz Lotto winnings in 1999, often argued about her expenses, the Sydney Morning Herald information.
Kelly repeatedly warned his client that his spending habits were unsustainable.
According to the agreed facts, in an argument at the Devrell family home, Mrs Devrell pushed the accountant when he refused to release any more of her money.
He stood up and pushed her back, making her fall.
Kelly told police he simply “saw crimson” and pulled a heavy rubber mallet from his own car, covered it with plastic wrap and hit Mrs Devrell on the head.
He then used his hand to cover her mouth, causing her death.
Kelly is understood to have been released from the Geoffrey Pearce Correctional Center (pictured) near Windsor, northwest of Sydney, after his non-parole period expired this week.
Judge Robert Hume rejected Kelly’s insistence that he had not intended to kill his client and that he had been provoked.
“The offender took the deceased’s handbag to make it look like a robbery gone wrong,” Justice Hume told the NSW Supreme Court.
“This responds to a logic of thought, not a loss of control.”
Kelly will remain on parole until 2029.
