As a grapple operator at Adelaide's Wingfield dump made the gruesome discovery of a man's battered and decomposing body a few days before Christmas, Daniel Bremner was settling into his victim’s home, using his debit card to buy booze and phone credit.
A few days earlier, on either December 17 or 18, 2021, Bremner had bashed his frail 53-year-old housemate to death and stuffed his corpse into a wheelie bin.
The 46-year-old made an abortive attempt to clean the bloodstains from the walls he shared with his victim and continued to live in the house until arrested by police on December 21.
After being found guilty of murder by a South Australian Supreme Court jury, Bremner was sentenced to a minimum of 26 years in prison without parole on Thursday.
Justice Anne Bampton said the evidence pointed to Bremner having no interest in saving the deceased's life, therefore reflecting an intention to bring about his death.
"You showed no respect for the human dignity of the deceased by shoving him in the wheelie bin, allowing him to be collected by an unsuspecting Eastwaste truck driver and his decomposing body to be discovered by the operator of the grapple at the integrated waste services depot," she said.
"It appears you settled yourself into the deceased's home and used his debit card to buy alcohol, phone credit and other sundry items."
Earlier that year, Bremner met his victim while sleeping rough on Hindley Street in Adelaide's CBD, and was invited to live in his home in the city's east.
Despite being mentally unwell at the time of the killing, Bremner showed mental acuity by expressing surprise when questioned by police and attempting to mislead investigators, Justice Bampton said.
He later admitted the murder to a cellmate, offering up a motive that was completely "unfounded" and which his lawyer attempted to disavow during sentencing submissions in court.
"However, following that submission, you made an outburst in court reiterating the statement you had made to (the cellmate)," Justice Bampton said.
She said it was her view that Bremner's earlier guilty plea to manslaughter reflected an acknowledgement of the inevitability that he would be found responsible for his victim's death, rather than a sign of contrition or remorse.
"Your offending is not in my assessment at the lower end of the range for the offence of murder," Jusice Bampton said.
As a result of his actions, his victim's siblings continue to "live with memory of the horrors that they have heard about and the thought that their parents died grief-stricken".
The deceased's sister had told the court she believed it was her brother's kindness that led to his death.
"Most people would've been able to see the evil of the perpetrator," she said earlier in April.
"My brother just saw someone who needed help."
Bremner was handed a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment, along with a non-parole period of 26 years, backdated to his arrest.
He will be eligible for parole in 2047.
