A REMORSELESS killer who forced his elderly and frail boyfriend to choke on his dentures during a bout of "rough sex" in a Mayfield boarding house has been jailed until at least 2039.
Zachary Joel Dowling, now 37, a quick-to-anger career criminal with a history of choking older men, was drunk and assaulting his "on-again, off again" boyfriend, 64-year-old Brian O'Sullivan, in his bedroom at the boarding house in Regent Street on the night of June 29, 2021.
Outside the room, the other residents could hear what they thought was "loud, rough sex".
But inside, Dowling was committing what a judge labelled "a very heinous murder" and had wrapped his hands around Mr O'Sullivan's neck, pushing his dentures down his throat and forcing him to asphyxiate.
Dowling then left Mr O'Sullivan's body in the bedroom for four days while he came and went and complained of the smell.
Later, he laughed and joked about Mr O'Sullivan's death in jail calls to a friend.
He also "blamed" Mr O'Sullivan for what had happened in the bedroom and told a psychologist the 64-year-old had "threatened to kill him", triggering memories of childhood sexual abuse that caused him to explode with anger.
Dowling in February pleaded guilty to murder on the basis of reckless indifference to human life and on Wednesday he was jailed for a maximum of 22 years and six months, with a non-parole period of 16 years and 10 months. He would have received a maximum 30-year jail term had he not pleaded guilty.
With time served, he will be eligible for parole in May, 2039.
Dowling and Mr O'Sullivan had been in a relationship, marred by numerous acts of domestic violence and Dowling's alcoholism, since at least 2004, according to an agreed statement of facts.
Neighbours routinely called police to report that Dowling was intoxicated and assaulting Mr O'Sullivan.
Dowling was living at the boarding house in Regent Street when he and Mr O'Sullivan arrived on the afternoon of June 29, 2021.
And sometime between about 5.30pm and 7pm, Dowling murdered Mr O'Sullivan inside his bedroom by forcing his dentures down into the back of his throat, choking him.
He left and later called a friend to tell him what happened, saying: "Brian is dead. He's been dead since Tuesday".
That friend called police, who discovered Mr O'Sullivan's body and arrested Dowling.
Justice Hulme said if there was a distinction between Dowling having an intention to kill and a reckless indifference to human life, it was relatively small.
He said Dowling was aware that if he forced Mr O'Sullivan's dentures down his throat then it would probably kill him, but he did it anyway. And afterwards he did nothing to show he was concerned about what had happened.
"Reckless indifference was followed by callous indifference," Justice Hulme said.
It is not known exactly what happened in the bedroom, but Dowling told a psychiatrist that Mr O'Sullivan was "getting the shits and got up in my face" and threatened to kill him.
He claimed he assaulted Mr O'Sullivan, causing him to hit his head on the wall and his dentures "flew back in his throat". He claimed he tried to remove the dentures from Mr O'Sullivan's throat and later called police.
His barrister, Public Defender Lizzie McLaughlin, had said Dowling described being threatened as "triggering, leading to memories of child sexual abuse" and he became incensed with anger.
"All the flashbacks came back," Dowling had said in a jail call. "Flashback after flashback after flashback. My whole life, I'd just had enough."
But Justice Hulme rejected the account Dowling gave to the psychiatrist about how Mr O'Sullivan died, saying it was untested and inconsistent with the agreed facts in the case.
"I do not accept that the violence towards Mr O'Sullivan was provoked by the perception of the offender that he was being threatened," Justice Hulme said. "I am unable to accept that he felt at all threatened by a physically frail, unarmed man in the context that the offender had been assaulting him earlier."
"I am satisfied that he is not at all remorseful," Justice Hulme said.
Before murdering Mr O'Sullivan, Dowling had in 2020 choked another older man in a very similar attack.
That man had his head slammed into a fridge and Dowling climbed on top and choked him until his false teeth became dislodged.
He survived and was in court on Wednesday to see Dowling jailed.
