Martin Leach (born 11 January 1959 in New Zealand),[1] was a convicted rapist and double murderer in Australia, and has been described as one of, if not the Northern Territory's worst, killer.
On 20 June 1983, an eighteen-year-old local woman, Janice Carnegie, and her fifteen-year-old cousin, Charmaine Aviet, were swimming at a popular recreational waterhole at Berry Springs.
The legislation also included that the Director of Public Prosecutions (Northern Territory) could apply to the Supreme Court to extend or exclude the non-parole period.
[4] Less than a month after the law took effect, the Director of Public Prosecutions made an application to revoke Leach's non-parole period, and order that he spend the remainder of his life in jail.
It was granted by Chief Justice Brian Martin,[1] and upheld in a majority decision by the NT Court of Criminal Appeal, who ruled that his culpability was so extreme that the community's interest could only be served if he was imprisoned for the term of his natural life without the possibility of release on parole; the dissenting judge, Justice Stephen Southwood, said that he would have fixed a non-parole period of 40 years, making Leach eligible for parole in 2024 at the age of 65.