Australia's Supreme Court has convicted a 42-year-old undocumented Filipino worker to three years and two months in jail after he pleaded guilty to being an accessory in cutting up a co-worker in December 2002.
But having been in custody since his arrest in May 2004 in the Philippines, Alejandro Almirol, a father of two, may be eligible for parole in June, Australian newspapers reported Friday.
The reports said Almirol helped his friend Prehector Trocio in cutting up Palataveke Tauveli, their 40-year-old co-worker in a cheese factory at Yagoona in Sydney's west.
Trocio had pleaded guilty to murder and had meted 12 years jail term.
Almirol was tried for murder but was acquitted by an 11 to 1 jury verdict, after which he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of being an accessory to murder.
Tauveli was bludgeoned with a chair and had his throat cut after spending an afternoon drinking with Trocio and Almerol. The next day, his body was cut up, stuffed into plastic bags and dumped in bushland in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney.
A man walking his dog came across Tauveli's remains two weeks later, on December 30, 2002.
The reports quoted Supreme Court Justice David Kirby as saying Trocio and Almirol intended to dispose of Tauveli's body but he was "simply too heavy". Trocio, assisted by Almirol, cut his body up before they scattered the parts in the mountains.
Justice Kirby also said Almirol felt bound to Trocio, "notwithstanding his horror at what had occurred", and "there was no backing out".
He added that Almirol's status as an illegal immigrant may have stopped him from contacting police.
Almirol regarded Tauveli as "a good man" and had had a "jovial" afternoon with him before Trocio arrived, the judge said.
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