Name: Kevin John Hender

Age: 48yrs old

State: SA- Blakeview

Sentence: Sentenced on June 25, 2004 to life in jail / 23yrs non parole. Earliest parole date 2026.

Offence/Other: Convicted Child Killer. Victim was a 15yr old girl (Samantha O' Reilly). Hender saw Samantha (he knew her family) walking and offered her a lift. He then took her back to his home in Blakeview where he attempted to rape her. Hender then strangled Samantha and dumped her body in the Adelaide Hills on January 3, 2003. Hender was in charge of local football league / also held senior positions within the league.

Mako.org.au

Jailed For Life Over Murder Of Teenager

Adelaida Advertiser

June 25, 2004

AFTER attempting to rape family friend Samantha-Jane O'Reilly in his own home, Kevin John Hender panicked.

He ordered her to lie face down on the lounge room floor, then strangled her with a rope as the frightened 15- year- old struggled to break free.

In the Supreme Court yesterday, Justice Tim Anderson sentenced Hender, 49, to life imprisonment for the murder on January 3 last year.

The girl's semi- naked body was found at Humbug Scrub, near Kersbrook, just hours after she left her Blakeview home to go shopping.

Craig Caldicott, for Hender, yesterday asked his client be given the maximum discount on his non-parole period for his February guilty plea. He said the decision to kill the teenager was made on the "spur of the moment".

"Clearly what happened is that there was an act of a sexual nature and as a direct result ... he strangled Samantha O'Reilly with a ligature," Mr Caldicott said.

"He said it was a spur- of- the- moment decision (with a view) to rendering her unconscious so she wouldn't remember what happened and hopefully come to at some stage." He said Hender, a father of three boys, was more concerned about the effect on his family than being caught.

"He was driving around and saw Samantha, picked her up... and events, in effect, unravelled from there," he said.

"The decision (to kill) was made in a sense of panic because it was going to be discovered that he had sex with this girl and his family would disintegrate."

Justice Anderson said it was "ironic" he had committed murder to protect his family, as most of them had since ostracised him.

Mr Caldicott said that, at the time of the murder, Hender was depressed about missing out on a job and the death of a relative.

He said his client was sorry for what had happened.

But Teresa Anderson, prosecuting, said Hender had told police Samantha-Jane had "pestered" him to have sex with her.

"(He said) 'I only had sex with her because she threatened me with disclosure'," Ms Anderson said.

"That is highly fanciful... he panics after the sexual act because he thought this was a girl who would tell and therefore ruin his marriage.

"Having made that deliberate decision he asked the victim to come to the lounge, got her to lie face down (and) got the rope he had to strangle her."

Ms Anderson said medical evidence showed Samantha-Jane was a virgin and Hender had only confessed to his crime after a failed suicide attempt.

"The confession was made after the police had conducted a DNA test (and) because the game was up," she said. "A 15- year- old girl has had her life cut short by an act which she did not provoke in any way, a girl who... was vulnerable and unable to defend herself."

Justice Anderson has reserved his decision on a non- parole period.