SYDNEY — A Melbourne court yesterday jailed the hosts of a partner-swapping session who killed an Australian millionaire because he turned up without a partner to trade.
Bernadette Denny, 42, and Mario Schembri, 58, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of 51-year-old Herman Rockefeller and were sentenced to prison terms of five years and nine years respectively.
Rockefeller, who managed his double life of respectable businessman and reckless swinger by maintaining five mobile phone accounts, met his killers through an Internet site.
He went missing in January, sparking emotional appeals from his family who said his disappearance was out of character. The court learned that when Rockefeller arrived alone at a Melbourne flat a fight broke out in which he received fatal head injuries.
The pair bought a chain saw and dismembered his body, which they burned. Police found the burnt remains buried in Denny’s house. — dpa