DANIEL Zwerus was in a paranoid and delusional state following a two-week drug binge when he killed Halls Head man Larry Maiolo in May, 2013, the Supreme Court heard on Friday.
Mr Zwerus, a father of two and a former Peel Thunder player, pleaded guilty last week to the murder of Mr Maiolo.
On Friday he was sentenced to life imprisonment and made eligible for parole after 18 years.
During sentencing submissions the court heard Mr Maiolo had gone for his usual walk on the morning of May 13.
He left home at 7.20am.
By 11am his lifeless body had been pulled from the water.
Prosecutor Laura Christian said Mr Maiolo was found with 18 stab wounds.
He had bruises and abrasions as well as a fractured jaw.
The court heard Mr Maiolo had been approached by Mr Zwerus shortly after 8.10am.
Mr Zwerus attacked Mr Maiolo and stabbed him to death before dragging his victim into the ocean at a Halls Head beach.
Mr Zwerus then fled the scene and embarked on a spree of petty theft and damage.
He went to a number of houses in the Halls Head area; jumping fences and, at one property, dumping his clothing and knife.
He threw Mr Maiolo’s wallet in a rubbish bin after taking cash from it.
At a house on Glencoe Parade he drank a can of soft drink before asking a woman for a lift to hospital.
The woman dropped Mr Zwerus near the water tower in Halls Head.
He was arrested the following day.
Counsel for Mr Zwerus, Tony Elliott, said his client accepted the facts but had been suffering drug-induced psychosis at the time of the killing.
He called for Judge Stephen Hall to find Mr Zwerus’ offence at the “bottom end” of the scale as he had been delusional at the time of the killing.
Mr Elliott said his client had been involved in a number of bizarre episodes since January 26 when he had ended up in hospital following an overdose of the party drug, GHB.
Another incident saw Mr Zwerus placed in custody after being found with a handgun and a meat cleaver in a car in Maddington.
The court heard Mr Zwerus had been smoking methamphetamine and cannabis every day and suffering delusions and hallucinating in the lead-up to Mr Maiolo’s murder.
Friends and family members had expressed concern with Mr Zwerus indulging in delusions he was possessed by the devil in recent weeks.
He took to wearing a table runner in the style of priests’ robes and once walked from Armadale to Mandurah following a court appearance.
Mr Zwerus had only been released from custody two weeks before he killed Mr Maiolo.
His lawyer said there was an argument for insanity in Mr Zwerus’ case, making the offence “less serious”.
But Justice Hall said there appeared to be no indication of mental illness, “but for the ingestion of drugs”.
A number of references were tendered on behalf of Mr Zwerus, including a personal letter from a friend which was described as using “colourful vernacular”.
Mr Zwerus' sentence was backdated to when he was first taken into custody.
