Melbourne banker sentenced after what supreme court justice Karin Emerton called ‘a moment of madness’

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

A Melbourne banker will spend at least 16 years in jail for murdering a student outside a fast food outlet in a “moment of madness”.

Kyle Sirous Zandipour, 29, was on Tuesday sentenced to 20 years in prison, with a minimum non-parole period of 16 years for murdering university student Joshua Hardy in 2014.

The 21-year-old died after being kicked and stomped on during an unprovoked attack outside McDonald’s on St Kilda Road.

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Zandipour was in May found guilty of murdering Hardy.

Victorian supreme court justice Karin Emerton did not accept Zandipour’s explanation to police that he had attacked Hardy in self defence.

“Rather than being threatening, Mr Hardy appeared vulnerable,” she said.

Hardy had been at a valedictory dinner and then a birthday party when he crossed paths with Zandipour on 18 October 2014.

Zandipour had been playing video games with his friend Matthew Bell when they decided to leave the St Kilda Road apartment Zandipour shared with his girlfriend to get some food.

Hardy was outside McDonald’s as Bell and Zandipour left and, having lost both his wallet and mobile phone, asked Bell if he could use his. The student was unsteady on his feet and slurring his words, the court heard.

“This made him an easy target more than a threat,” Emerton said.

Bell pushed Hardy, causing him to stagger, but not fall. With no apparent warning, Zandipour then grabbed Hardy’s left hand and slung him head first into the ground, with great force. Zandipour then inflicted three forceful kicks to his head and neck area.

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The kicks caused Hardy’s body to swing around as Zandipour stomped on the fallen student’s head and neck.

CCTV footage shows the attack lasted six seconds.

The 21-year-old was pronounced dead less than two hours later in hospital, having sustained a lacerated artery.

“Your actions involved a moment of madness,” Emerton said. “You had no beef with Mr Hardy.”

She said Zandipour’s offer to plead guilty to manslaughter earlier this year showed he had remorse for his actions and the suffering they had caused Hardy’s family.

But his conduct and spur of the moment decision to attack Hardy that night was “utterly senseless”.

“Crimes of this kind, involving random acts of violence against hapless passers-by in Melbourne ... need to be denounced,” Emerton said.

Outside court Hardy’s father, David, said Zandipour had destroyed his own life, as well as his son’s.