Life In Prison

Life In Prison, The jailmate of Carl Williams has today been sentenced to life behind bars for murdering the notorious gangland killer inside Barwon Prison. In a packed Victorian Supreme Court, Justice Lex Lasry described Matthew Charles Johnson’s actions in murdering Williams on April 19 last year in the high-security Acacia unit they shared as “appalling”.

“This was an appalling murder,” he said. “It was a killing which appears to demonstrate your belief that you have some special entitlement to kill when you think it is appropriate, or your ego demands it according to some meaningless underworld prison code.

‘‘I am left with no choice but to punish what you have done with an appropriately heavy sentence.”

He ordered Johnson, who showed no emotion in court, to serve a minimum of 32 years before becoming eligible for parole.

Johnson’s cold reaction was in contrast to his victim’s ex-wife Roberta Williams’, who was close to tears as she attended court for the sentence with her new baby and the couple’s school-aged daughter Dhakota.

The 38-year-old Johnson had pleaded not guilty to the gangland figure’s murder.

Williams was serving time in the unit after he was sentenced to life with a minimum of 35 years for the murders of Michael Marshall (October 25, 2003), Mark Mallia (August 18, 2003), Jason Moran (June 21, 2003) Lewis Moran (March 31, 2004) and conspiracy to murder Mario Condello (June 2004), who was later gunned down in 2006.