Daniel Jack Kelsall has been sentenced to at least 30 years in jail for the "chilling" murder of Sydney man Morgan Huxley.
Dressed in a grey suit, the 22-year-old stared straight ahead and made no expression as Justice Robert Allan Hulme sentenced him to a maximum term of 40 years, saying "this is a chilling case of murder".
"Whether the offender killed for the thrill of it ... or whether it was as a result of fantasy or obsession I am unable to say. It was entirely senseless and needless," Justice Hulme said.
He said it must have been the doing of a very disturbed mind. "Why he did it, only Kelsall knows."
Kelsall did not look at his parents Lynne and Mark Kelsall, who were in court for the sentence. Morgan's family remained quietly seated.
A jury last month took less than three hours to find the former kitchen hand guilty of murdering the 31-year-old, who was discovered lying in his bedroom doorway in Sydney's north covered in blood in the early hours of September 8, 2013.
Kelsall, the court heard, had made a series of chilling confessions in the year before the murder about having intrusive thoughts about killing a "total random" with a knife.
When Kelsall spotted Morgan at the Oaks Hotel near the businessman's Neutral Bay unit, he found his target, the crown said.
Justice Hulme said he was satisfied Kelsall followed Morgan, at times breaking into a jog and watched him entering his unit.
"I'm satisfied he followed him with the view of seeing what opportunities might arise," Justice Hulme said. When he realised the door was open, Justice Hulme said Kelsall went inside and attacked the 31-year-old as he lay on his back either asleep or incapacitated by alcohol. He plunged a knife into him more than 20 times.
"He (Morgan) must have been alert to what was happening as he sustained defensive wounds," Justice Hulme said.
He said he was satisfied Kelsall had carried the knife into the home in his bag. He said he completely rejected Kelsall's version at trial that Morgan had invited him in. Kelsall will be eligible for parole in January 2044.
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