A member of the Bandidos motorcycle gang who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for killing a man and dumping his body in East Keilor has had his appeal against the severity of his sentence refused in the Supreme Court.
Luke Maybus was sentenced in March 2016 for the manslaughter of Michael Strike at the Bandidos’ Brunswick clubhouse in May, 2014. Two other co-accused have been sentenced for their roles in the death.
They did not appeal.
The court heard that on May 24, 2014, Mr Strike attended the Brunswick clubhouse and got into an argument with John Walker. During the argument Walker and Maybus pulled Mr Strike into the clubhouse.
Maybus, Walker and a third man then fatally assaulted Mr Strike, initially with their fists and then with a metal bar. The court heard the assault lasted several minutes.
The three men loaded Mr Strike into the rear of a van and Maybus drove to East Keilor where he left Mr Strike’s body lying in a garden bed under a small tree.
Sometime in the next 24 hours, Maybus stole the van used to dispose of the body and drove it to Footscray where he set it on fire.
Maybus was arrested on January 15, 2015 and charged with murder, theft and arson.
In the Supreme Court in March last year he pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty on the other two charges.
However in the second week of his trial, Maybus and the prosecution reached a plea bargain. On March 2, Maybus was re-arraigned and pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
In May this year Maybus appealed his sentence on the grounds the judge in the initial trial had not given enough weight to his guilty plea when deliberating the length of sentencing.
However appeals court judges Robert Osborn, Stephen Kaye and Michael Croucher dismissed the appeal.
“The offending was very serious,” they said.
“Allowing fully for the applicant’s pleas of guilty and all other matters put in his favour, were I at large to re-sentence, I would not reduce any aspect of the sentences imposed by the judge,” they said.
