Dudley Davey, the killer of beloved South Australian outback nurse Gayle Woodford, has lost a bid to have his 32-year jail sentence reduced.
The decision came as a great relief for Ms Woodford’s husband Keith who said he had come to court on Thursday not expecting Davey’s appeal to be rejected.
‘I’m just numb. I was expecting the worst and got the best,’ he said.
South Australian man Dudley David Davey, 35, will spend a minimum of 32 years in jail for the rape and murder of outback nurse Gayle Woodford
Mother-of-two Gayle Woodford was lured from her home in outback South Australia before she was murdered and buried in a shallow grave
Davey had argued that he wasn’t given a big enough discount on his non-parole period for pleading guilty to raping and killing Ms Woodford.
However, the Court of Criminal Appeal unanimously dismissed his challenge ordering the minimum term stand.
Ms Woodford’s body was found in a crude grave in South Australia’s north three days after she went missing from her Fregon home in March last year.
The 56-year-old had worked in the Fregon community health clinic.
When she imposed her sentence in June, Justice Ann Vanstone said Davey was a drug addict and serial offender, who had an ‘abnormal desire to rape women’.
He had plainly chosen Ms Woodford as an ‘easy target, vulnerable because of her empathy’.
The family of Gayle Woodford arrive at the Supreme Court of South Australia in Adelaide on Monday, her husband Keith picture
‘This was a cold-blooded killing of a woman who had worked with skill and compassion in your community,’ the judge said
‘This was a cold-blooded killing of a woman who had worked with skill and compassion in your community,’ the judge said.
She said Davey’s offending was ‘callous in the extreme’ and at the higher end of the scale for rape and murder.
In his reasons for rejecting the appeal on Thursday, Chief Justice Chris Kourakis said a shorter sentence would fail to impose the right level of punishment and condemnation for an offence that was at the higher end of the range.
The murder stile Ms Woodford’s ambulance after he killed her
‘Moreover, the (shorter) sentence would not apply the necessary personal deterrence for an offender with Mr Davey’s strong proclivity for dangerous offending,’ Justice Kourakis said.
‘The non-parole period was not excessive.’
Mr Woodford said the decision would help him and his family move on.
‘I and the family are very, very happy,’ he said.