A man who slashed his father to death with a Samurai sword as a part of an elaborate ploy to cash in on his life insurance has been jailed for 37 years.
Michael Phillip Martin Jr, a skilled martial arts fighter, rekindled his relationship with his estranged father before taking out three separate life insurance policies worth $2.5 million.
He pleaded guilty to killing 46-year-old Michael Anthony Martin at his unit in South Murwillumbah, northeastern New South Wales, in June 2014, after telling police his father had been savagely murdered by home invaders.
Michael Phillip Martin Jr, (pictured) a skilled martial arts fighter, rekindled his relationship with his estranged father before taking out three separate life insurance policies worth $2.5 million
He pleaded guilty to killing 46-year-old Michael Anthony Martin (pictured) at his unit in South Murwillumbah, northeastern New South Wales, in June 2014, after telling police his father had been savagely murdered by home invaders
Martin, 28, had attempted to kill his father in April 2014 after brutally bashing him and his flatmate, however Mr Martin Sr survived the attack and was taken to hospital in a serious condition.
Months later, he struck again, this time making sure the deed was done by hacking the man to death with a Samurai sword.
Martin went to great lengths to set up the crime scene to look like a botched home invasion.
He tied himself up and lay at the bottom of the stairs screaming for help after the murder, the court heard.
The father-of-two was found guilty by a jury in October last year after a chilling nine-page confession letter he penned to his wife Candace Martin emerged.
The letter allegedly referred to the murder plot as a ‘bright idea’, The Daily Telegraph reports.
Mrs Martin was sentenced to 10 years in prison in November last year for her role in the planning of the murder.
Martin, 28, (pictured during police interview) had attempted to kill his father in April 2014 after brutally bashing him and his flatmate, however Mr Martin Sr survived the attack and was taken to hospital in a serious condition
The father-of-two (pictured) was found guilty by a jury in October last year after a chilling nine-page confession letter he penned to his wife Candace Martin emerged
Police believe Martin Jr had been driven by hate, built up from years of abuse as a child, to kill his father for the insurance payout.
His defence told the court the events of June 12 were the result of a ‘mental explosion’ triggered by childhood abuse.
But Justice Peter Hammill concluded the murder was ‘a cold blooded execution for money’.
‘The offence was carried out with a cold-blooded determination scarcely imaginable to ordinary members of the community guided by moral and ethical standards inherent in most human beings,’ Justice Hammill told the NSW Supreme Court in Lismore on Friday.
Video footage has emerged of a chilling documentary which featured Martin Jr four years before his father’s murder.
Mrs Martin (pictured) was sentenced to 10 years in prison in November last year for her role in the planning of the murder
Speaking about his ‘country cowboy lifestyle’, Martin Jr spoke candidly about his struggles with former abuse and suicide attempts.
‘I’ll never become something like that, child abusing, bloody women raping bastard,’ he said of his father.
‘I said (to him) ‘I’m becoming something…. I’m going to make a life myself.’.
He was sentenced to a maximum of 37 years’ and a minimum of 27 years and 9 months years’ jail.