Three men have been sentenced for the murder of Brendan Bernard, whose body was chopped up and dumped in the Maribyrnong River in 2015 after a fight over a $60 debt.
Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale jailed Con Spaliaras, 33, for 24 years with 19 years non-parole, saying he demonstrated a "chilling callousness".
![Brendan Bernard, whose severed forearm was found in the Maribyrnong River on February 5, 2015.](/web/20170203004959im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/1/3/q/a/8/n/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gu4ms3.png/1486079689671.jpg)
Nazi sympathiser Matthew David Brennan, 38, will serve 17 years non-parole with a maximum 22 year sentence.
Edward Lionel "Nippy" Hill, 48, was imprisoned for 20 years with a minimum of 15 behind bars.
All three, who were found guilty last year, had pleaded not guilty to murder.
Mr Bernard met his end during a chaotic night in late January 2015 at a North Melbourne unit, in which everyone present was drunk or affected by drugs, including ice.
During the trial, the jury heard that Mr Bernard was ambushed after coming home to the flat he shared with Brennan, and was confronted over a $60 drug debt incurred the previous day, which he had failed to pay.
The key prosecution witness, a woman who can be identified only as "KJ", told the Victorian Supreme Court she and the three accused men had been inside the flat when Mr Bernard arrived home.
![Police search the Maribyrnong River.](/web/20170203004959im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/1/3/7/f/8/b/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gu4ms3.png/1486079689671.jpg)
She said the trio set upon Mr Bernard, brutally bashing him, before Spaliaras put him into a "sleeper hold" until he lost consciousness.
She told the court that when she noticed Mr Bernard wake up and try to escape through the front door, she shut the front door and called for Spaliaras.
![This distinctive devil tattoo discovered on the inner forearm of one of the body parts, helped police identify them.](/web/20170203004959im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/1/3/7/r/q/p/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gu4ms3.png/1486079689671.jpg)
Asked why she did that, KJ replied: "Because I didn't want Con to go to jail."
She said Mr Bernard was then dragged into the bathroom. After a while, she said, "it got really quiet".
![A police diver in the Maribynong River.](/web/20170203004959im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/1/3/8/0/p/3/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gu4ms3.png/1486079689671.jpg)
The court was told the three men left Mr Bernard's body in the bathtub for a week, with Brennan washing the body regularly to try to get rid of the smell.
After "about" a week, the court was told, Mr Bernard's body was dismembered and his body parts dumped in the Maribyrnong River.
Spaliaras and Brennan admitted to doing this. Hill admitted only to taking part in the body's disposal.
All three men admitted they were involved in the assault on Mr Bernard.
Prosecutor Gavin Silbert, QC, told the court last year the men had decided to throw the dead man's head, hands and feet into a council bin near a playground so they could not be traced.
But, he said, by the time they came to this decision they had already dumped Mr Bernard's forearm in the river.
Mr Bernard's body parts surfaced in the river over several days in February 2015, and more parts were discovered in March.
A distinctive tattoo on Mr Bernard's forearm, of a devil wearing jeans and holding a spray can, was identified by his stepfather the day after the limb was discovered by a member of the public.