The man convicted of raping and murdering outback nurse Gayle Woodford will spend at least 32 years in prison.
Dudley Davey was given a life sentence with a non-parole period of 32 years by Justice Ann Vanstone in an Adelaide court today.
The 35-year-old had pleaded guilty to raping and murdering Ms Woodford in the remote Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands in far-northern South Australia, and to stealing an ambulance.
"This was a cold-blooded killing of a woman who had worked with skill and compassion in your community," Justice Vanstone said.
Outside the court, Ms Woodford’s husband, Keith Woodford made an emotional commitment to protecting nurses and other medical professionals working in remote areas across the country.
“As for the future, I’m going to devote my life to the loving memory of Gayle by supporting the welfare of all nurses working in regional and remote areas,” he said.
“I will do whatever is necessary to apply public pressure on governments, health authorities to create Gayle’s law.
“We must act radically to protect nurses and medical staff in remote areas to ensure the crime that took Gayle away from us never be allowed to happen again.”
Mr Woodford also thanked his family, friends, legal team, members of the media and “the good people of Fregon” for their support.
Justice Vanstone said Davey, a drug addict and serial offender, had chosen Mrs Woodford as an "easy target, vulnerable because of her empathy".
She said Davey's offending was "callous in the extreme" and at the higher end of the scale for the crimes of rape and murder.
She said Davey had gone to Mrs Woodford's home in Fregon with the intention of enticing her outside so he could rape her and "that's what you did".
He then decided to kill her in the hope of covering up the rape and theft of the ambulance Mrs Woodford used in her work at the Fregon health clinic.
A post-mortem examination found that the much-loved nurse suffered multiple wounds, including blunt force trauma to the brain, and the final blows Davey inflicted were to stomp twice on the back of her neck.
Mrs Woodford had lived and worked in Fregon for five years, and community leaders told the court that Davey would never be welcome back on SA's indigenous lands.
They said the crime had cast a "dark cloud" over the lands.
Mr Woodford said he hoped Davey would never be paroled.
Keith Woodford, with his daughter Alison (left) and son Gary, departs the Supreme Court, Adelaide, Thursday, June 8, 2017. (AAP) Source: AAP
"Dudley Davey should never ever be let out of jail for the shocking crime he committed," he said outside court.
"We will always mourn Gayle but so many people have helped us to cope the with the tragedy of her death."
- with AAP
