AAP General News (Australia)
12-13-2011
SA:Nephew gets 24 years for murdering uncle
By Sarah Malik
ADELAIDE, Dec 13 AAP - An Adelaide man who lied to police and showed no remorse for
the drug-related shooting murder of his uncle has been jailed for at least 24 years.
Daniel Troy Ames, 38, was sentenced in the South Australian Supreme Court on Tuesday
after being found guilty of shooting his 68-year-old uncle in the head.
Allan Ames was found dead at his scrap metal shed in suburban Cavan in November 2009.
The trial by judge alone heard drugs and cash were found at the scene and while there
were no defensive wounds on the dead man's hands, dirt on his knees suggested he had been
shot while kneeling.
Justice David Peek said it was likely the murder was drug-related.
"I find that you were in some way connected with the deceased in relation to methylamphetamine
and that the murder was in some way related to that connection," he said.
However, Ames' silence and denial meant there were no mitigating circumstances.
"I can only take from your silence coupled with your previous denials ... that you
have not and do not display any contrition or remorse," he said.
He said Ames deliberately misled and lied to police.
The court heard Ames told police he had only spent about 25 minutes at his uncle's
shed, but surveillance footage recorded Ames' visit between 9.52pm and midnight.
"You, in fact, told them a number of lies and misled them in every way that you thought
you could get away with."
Justice Peek imposed a 24-year non-parole period for the murder which attracts an automatic
life sentence.
AAP sbm/wf/goc/
KEYWORD: LEGAL: AMES
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