Why doesn't GBC just plead guilty? This would enable him to work through his feelings and attempt to move forward and out of his denial.
I think I can safely say that every single person in this thread wants to see people capable of taking the life of another human being put away, and put away for a very long time.
However I've long been an advocate for the abolition of mandatory life sentencing of those convicted of murder. As it stands now, murder is the only crime in the state of Queensland where concession cannot be given to the defendant making a timely plea of guilt. It doesn't matter, who, what, where, how or why, most people will receive the mandatory penalty of life in prison with a non parole period of 20 years (up from 15 recently, and this is of course discounting multiple murders and murderers with a relevant criminal history).
Therefore there is no incentive for a murder to plead guilty, particularly one who believes he has even the slimmest of hopes at trial. So many traumatised people are dragged unnecessarily through the judicial process and for what, to pound our chests and proclaim "we have the toughest sentences for murder in the country"?
At the mandatory 15 year non parole period there was little incentive in terms of case law (pretty much everyone got the same penalty, contested or not) and with it upped to 20 years it's only going to make it worse. Given GBC was in real estate which requires criminal checks I can only assume that he doesn't have a particularly murky past and on that basis he is almost certainly going to get a 20 year minimum whether he pleads or contests, so from his point of view he may as well roll the dice.
I think that some (small) concessions could/should be made for those who do plead guilty to murder at an early stage and who save family, friends and witnesses from recounting undoubtedly the most most horrific period in their lives.