29 May 2014

NZ man's killer jailed nine years

10:23 pm on 29 May 2014

A former bikie associate who killed a New Zealand musician by pushing him through the second storey window of an Australian pub has been jailed for nine years.

Stefan Pahia Schmidt, 28, was today acquitted of murder in a judge-alone re-trial in the West Australian Supreme Court , but found guilty of manslaughter, AAP reports.

In 2012, Schmidt was given a life sentence with a minimum jail term of 14 years for murdering Andy Marshall by shoving him through the second storey window of Cottesloe's Ocean Beach Hotel in Perth in May 2011.

But the Court of Appeal determined that Schmidt should face a retrial, with one judge saying he could have been found guilty of manslaughter.

Schmidt offered to plead guilty to the lesser charge, admitting he had pushed Mr Marshall but didn't mean to kill him.

Prosecutors rejected the plea deal.

Schmidt will spend at least seven years behind bars before being eligible for parole.