A man who raped a young woman while being sought by police over a body found decomposing in a wheelie bin has been sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Adam John Charles Evans, 36, appeared in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Wednesday for sentencing after pleading guilty to business robbery, manslaughter, tampering with a corpse and four counts of rape.
The charges relate to a four-day period that included Evans beating 61-year-old Kym Mitchell to death at a unit in Yeronga, south of Brisbane, on November 26, 2018.
Evans had earlier that day teamed up with Robert Louis Gibson, 43, to rob a 28-year-old woman as she crossed a railroad overpass.
Crown prosecutor Elizabeth Kelso said there was “no recognizable motive” why Evans had attacked Mr Mitchell, whom he knew and used a mobility scooter.
“Neighbors heard noises of fighting and someone saying, ‘I’m dying, help me,'” Mrs. Kelso said.
Mitchell was found days later in a wheelie bin after Evans and Gibson cleaned blood stains from the unit’s ceiling and threw the scooter into a river.
Mitchell was struck several times in the head with severe force, fracturing his skull and eye socket.
They probably also kicked or stomped on his back while he was lying on the ground.
Adam Evans pleaded guilty to robbery, manslaughter, interference with a corpse and four counts of rape.
Defense lawyer Justin Thomas said Evans had suffered trauma as a young man that resulted in drug abuse and mental health problems throughout his adult life.
Evans told people he had “spanked” Mr Mitchell and then “went too far and would now be gone for 25 years”.
At 4am on November 30, 2018, Evans and Gibson followed a 21-year-old woman leaving a pub.
Gibson told the woman, “We just beat up a guy.” He’s dead. I’m a murderer.’
The woman was pushed to the ground and Gibson told her ‘if you don’t do it, you’ll end up murdered like the man’ before being raped by Evans and Gibson.
Gibson was sentenced in May 2022 to 11 years in prison for robbery, rape and complicity in involuntary manslaughter.
Defense lawyer Justin Thomas said Evans had suffered trauma as a young man that resulted in drug abuse and mental health problems throughout his adult life.
“He had not engaged in habitual violent behavior prior to this very serious offence…intoxication played a major role,” Mr Thomas said.
Judge Glenn Martin told Evans he had treated Mitchell’s body in an inhumane and disgraceful manner.
“Without any reason given to the court, you have killed a man 30 years older than you and who suffers from a disability,” he said.
Judge Martin said he could not find that Evans showed remorse for raping the girl.
‘The rapes were brutal and terrifying. The (victim) would have feared for his life,’ he stated.
Evans was sentenced to a cumulative sentence of 18 years in prison that included 10 years for involuntary manslaughter and eight years for rape, and all five counts were declared serious violent crimes.
Evans must serve 80 percent of the sentence before being eligible for parole.
The five years and ten months he already spent in custody were declared time served.
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