Nicholas Spohn was killed in a deliberately lit house fire at his hoime in Beachmere. Source: Supplied
THE mother of a man murdered in a deliberately lit Sunshine Coast house fire told her son's killer that God will judge him.
In the Supreme Court on Tuesday, Justice James Douglas sentenced Craig Anthony Leonard, 30, to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 20 years for the murder of his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend Nicholas David Spohn, 23, and her aunt Jennifer Anne Bachmann, 43.
The court heard Rina Linda Mayall and Mr Spohn had only been dating for three weeks before her ex-boyfriend lit a fire that destroyed the Beachmere home the new couple had been sleeping in on April 17 2011.
Prosecutor Michael Byrne QC told the court that in the weeks leading up to the fire Leonard had sent a sexually explicit picture message of Ms Mayall to her phone threatening to post it on the internet if she did not repay a $1000 debt she had to him.
On April 11, 2011, he sent text messages falsely accusing her of having sexually transmitted diseases, ovarian cancer and made a "graphic suggestion" about an operation she needed.
The pair had broken up in January 2011 after about eight months of dating.
On the night of the fire, Ms Mayall had just gone to bed when a friend of Leonard's called her at 12.29am asking if Mr Spohn was with her.
Leonard was with the caller when Ms Mayall confirmed that she was in bed with her boyfriend.
The court heard that before listening in on the phone call Leonard had been drinking at the Caboolture Sports Club and had injected himself with methamphetamines.
Mr Byrne told the court that after the phone call Leonard took petrol from another resident at the Caboolture caravan park where he lived and drove to Ms Mayall's house and set fire to a mattress in a room on the ground floor of the home.
Ms Mayall told police she woke to feeling her feet burning and the sound of wood cracking.
Mr Spohn left their room but was never seen alive again and his body was found on the bathroom floor.
Ms Bachmann's remains were found on the floor of the room of Ms Mayall's six-year-old daughter, who was staying with relatives that night.
Ms Mayall escaped the fire but broke two vertebrae after jumping off the home's top level verandah.
The court heard Leonard initially denied any involvement in the murder and gave a "false and largely self serving account" to police.
He later admitted to police what happened and told them he "saw an orange glow coming from the house when he drove off," Mr Byrne told the court.
He told police he had wanted to scare Ms Mayall, "take her down a peg", temporarily ruin her financially and "put the wind up her".
There were five victim impact statements given to Justice Douglas today.
Mr Spohn's mother Erika Varga's victim impact statement was read by Mr Byrne and said her son's death was "senseless".
"You had no right to kill him ... God will judge you," the statement said.
"There is not one day that goes by that we don't think of him and miss him terribly."
Ms Varga's statement told the court her son has been caring for his brother who was seriously injured in a car crash just weeks before his death.
She said she had had a breakdown since her son's death and her family now struggled financially.
"It crippled us. You have destroyed our lives with your stupid revenge."
The court also heard a victim impact statement from one of Ms Bachmann's sisters, whose name has been withheld at the request of the court.
She said her sister's death, and not being able to recover her body, had led to her marriage breaking down.
"Jenny, like the house I saw on the news, had been reduced to nothing more than a shell," the sister's statement said.
"Now my five-year-old (child) says they want to die so they can see Jenny."
In a victim impact statement read by Mr Byrne, another member of Ms Bachmann's family told the court that "to know her life was reduced to nothing more than collateral damage is truly gut wrenching."
Leonard also addressed the court and said his actions were "uncharacteristic" and he hoped the victim's families could find closure in his admission of guilt.
"I feel great sorrow for the family of the deceased. I am deserving of all their bitterness and grief," he said.
Justice Douglas sentenced Leonard to life in prison with a non parole period of 20 years and he received six years imprisonment for arson and four years for grievous bodily harm.
Leonard has already served 674 days behind bars.
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