National Crime Authority bomber Domenic Perre will most likely die in jail after being sentenced to at least 30 years for the 1994 crime, which killed a police officer.
The 65-year-old sent a parcel bomb to the Adelaide headquarters of the National Crime Authority (NCA), killing Detective Sergeant Geoffrey Bowen and injuring lawyer Peter Wallis.
Supreme Court Justice Kevin Nicholson found Perre guilty after a seven-month trial and today handed him a life sentence with a non-parole period of 30 years and seven months.
Justice Nicholson ordered the non-parole period to commence after Perre finishes a six-year and 10-month sentence for drug trafficking.
Perre will not be eligible to seek parole until November 2054, when he will be aged 98.
Perre was charged with murder six days after the NCA blast in 1994.
The charges were withdrawn months later when it was deemed there was no reasonable prospect of conviction.
SA Police charged Perre with murder again in 2018 after new leads and developments in DNA had been helpful in strengthening the case.
Perre has lodged an application in the Court of Criminal Appeal to appeal the conviction.
Justice Nicholson described the crime as violent, barbaric, and ruthless.
"Your conduct was brutish – that is, totally devoid of any human sensibility," he said to Perre, who did not react in the dock.
"Yours was not spontaneous, reactive conduct. It was not the product of heated emotions arising from a close, personal relationship that festered over time.
"It was not just premeditated, but intricately devised and planned over a lengthy period of time and was executed in cold blood.
"These offences strike at the heart of our criminal justice system.
"The targeted murder of a serving police officer, acting in the course of his duty, cannot be tolerated."
Justice Nicholson said the bombing was one of the most serious examples of murder.
Prosecutors asked for Perre to be jailed for life with no non-parole period to be set, but Justice Nicholson imposed one because of his age and poor health.
But he noted Perre would most likely die in jail, even with a non-parole period.
Geoffrey Bowen's wife, Jane Bowen-Sutton, said her family had waited 28 years for today to "finally arrive".
"Although our loss is immeasurable, this outcome goes towards bringing a quiet acceptance to our tragic loss," she said.
Genevieve Wallis, the daughter of Peter Wallis, said the sentence would allow the families to "move forward".
"Today's sentencing can never bring Geoff back or remove dad's physical and mental scars but it is justice and it is retribution," Ms Wallis said.
"It is recognition of the suffering endured by the Bowen's and the Wallis's since Domenic Perre sent a bomb to the NCA."
South Australian Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said today's sentence was a "just outcome for the horrific crime" Perre committed.
"I think we all take great comfort in the fact that Domenic Perre will die in jail," he said.
