An impulse, drunken decision to rob a Sydney weed dealer has cost an otherwise "lovely boy" - now a convicted murderer - at least 14 years in jail.
Jake Burns, 25, was on Monday handed 21-year prison term for the stabbing murder of Erol Tokcan, in what the judge called a "robbery gone horribly wrong".
"It is a truly tragic case," NSW Supreme Court Justice Lucy McCallum said.
"In a split-second decision, Mr Burns has not only taken the life of Erol Tokcan but also torn his own life apart."
After a night of drinking and smoking cannabis with friends on March 9, 2018, Burns and three mates turned up at Mr Tokcan's Dharruk home to buy more.
"F*** off. Don't come here anymore," they were told, according to the facts read out by the judge on sentencing.
Heading back to his mate's home empty-handed, the angry and frustrated offender suggested to his friends that they go back and "take everything".
"Don't say you're going to do something you're not going to do," one of the men said.
Mr Burns replied "take me back, I will", according to the facts.
Armed with a pocket knife the judge found was intended to frighten rather than injure, Burns - then 21 - forced himself into the house and threatened robbery.
In the chaos that followed, he claimed he had accidentally stabbed Mr Tokcan as the older man ran at him.
However, the judge found the stabbing was deliberate, although unplanned, occurring during a tussle between the pair.
"I have no doubt he became scared when fighting broke out in the house, increasingly so when Mr Tokcan grabbed his shirt and would not let go despite Mr Burns' efforts to free himself," Justice McCallum said.
"In that adrenalin-fuelled moment, Mr Burns spontaneously formed the intention to stab Mr Tokcan so that he could escape."
That moment robbed Mr Tokcan's mother of "a son and a friend", she said in a victim impact statement given to the court.
His older sister Meral wrote of how her birthday - the day she learned of her brother's murder - is now a day filled with sadness.
Another wrote of how time had not healed her pain.
"It only makes you realise what you lost and reminds you how you lost it," the judge said, summarising an impact statement given by his younger sister Fatosh.
The night has also come at great cost to Burns' family, who described him as "a lovely boy with a beautiful personality", who always respected people and had never been violent.
"Until these offences he was by all accounts a person of solid character with a strong work record and no history of prior offending," Justice McCallum said.
He had experienced a childhood of "profound deprivation", was young and had been "egged on" by his co-offenders, she said, factors which mitigate his offending.
He is clearly remorseful, has good prospects of rehabilitation, and is unlikely to reoffend, she noted, when sentencing him to 21 years in prison.
Burns - who has been in custody since his arrest in March 2020 - will be eligible for parole after 14 years, in March 2034.
The two mates who also walked up to Mr Tokcan's door both pleaded guilty to assault with intent to rob in company.
Jerami Dillion Edward Angelos, aged in his mid-20s, was released to parole in September halfway through his three-year term.
Ryan Hall, 25, was jailed for three years, three months - having also pleaded guilty to destroying Burns' knife.
