One of two Sydney brothers jailed for plotting the murder of a convicted drug dealer they believed had slain their grandparents has been granted parole.
The dismembered body of their target, who was abducted in 2001 while on work release from prison, was found in plastic packages on the banks of a northern NSW river.
Andrew Perish, then 41, was jailed in 2012 for 12 years with a minimum of nine years for conspiring to murder Terry Falconer.
His brother, Anthony Perish, then 42, was jailed in the NSW Supreme Court for at least 18 years for the murder.
The State Parole Authority on Thursday granted Andrew Perish parole, ordering him to be subjected to strict supervision and electronic monitoring among other conditions.
The State of NSW had opposed his release but the SPA accepted the parole recommendation made by Community Corrections and the Serious Offenders Review Council.
Perish had argued for parole on "manifest injustice" grounds, arguing he was unable to access external leave programs as all have been suspended due to the coronavirus.
The SPA accepted Perish could be managed in the community if subject to strict conditions.
He will be released to supported accommodation between August 13 and August 20.
Justice Derek Price accepted the Perish brothers' main motivation was that they believed Mr Falconer had murdered their elderly grandparents, who were shot dead at their Sydney property in 1993.
He found that Anthony Perish was the mastermind of a meticulously planned operation - involving the recruitment of men pretending to be police officers - to abduct Mr Falconer.
Mr Falconer was handcuffed, his face was covered with a rag soaked in a chloroform-type substance and he was placed inside a large unventilated metal box.
The box was transported to the Sydney home of Anthony Perish, who intended to kill Mr Falconer. But Mr Falconer died on the journey, which took more than two hours.
The box was then taken to a rural property where Mr Falconer's teeth were smashed to conceal his identity, and his body cut up and wrapped in plastic before the packages were dumped in and near the Hastings River.
The victim's son, James Falconer, told the judge his father died with "no dignity, no respect and no mercy".
He had suffered worse than an "animal in an abattoir" and died "like a lion being pulled down by a pack of sniffing hyenas", he said.
Australian Associated Press
