Family of murdered mum call for death penalty for 'monster' killer
The family of murdered South Australian woman Jody Meyers has called her killer a "monster" for taking her life, burying her, then lying directly to her loved ones about it.
Neil Anthony Archer murdered his 20-year-old partner Ms Meyers and buried her under a concrete slab in the backyard of his parents' house in Mannum, east of Adelaide, in August, 2015.
The young mother's body was discovered more than a month after she went missing.
Archer, 31, originally claimed she had run away. But prosecutors alleged he killed her using a piece of grey cord and he pleaded guilty to murder in December last year.
Ms Meyers’ family believe the only justice would be capital punishment.
Wracked with emotion, Michael Bates spoke on behalf of the Meyers family outside court on Monday, saying "an eye for an eye” was the justice the accused murderer deserved.
“Capital punishment - if you're willing to kill someone you say you're gonna protect, you deserve exactly what you give out," Mr Bates said.
He added that Archer betrayed the family’s trust.
"You don't expect your friends to murder your family.
“You're a monster, an inhumane, disgusting, poor excuse for a human," he said of Archer.
Family members spoke in court of their despair at the loss of Ms Meyers at the hands of the man who was meant to protect her.
"You buried her like she was disposable. Just a piece of rubbish," sister Tania Parsons said in her victim impact statement in the SA Supreme Court.
"My kids had to learn that not only are monsters real but we had one attack our family.
"I trusted and had faith in you. I have never been so wrong in my life.
"You looked me in the eye and said you did nothing."
The court heard Ms Meyers and Archer had a young son who will one day have to learn that his father was a murderer.
"He's a child who has a lot of hard roads to cross," Ms Meyers' mother Lucyann Saler said in her victim impact statement.
Ms Saler said she has been consumed by grief since she lost her daughter.
"Jody had so much to live for," she said.
"My grief consumes me. I keep picturing Jody and her fight for life.
"She died terrified and alone by the hands of the person she was supposed to be able to trust."
There were no submissions from Archer today. His lawyer asked for more time to prepare them because of his client's fragile mental state.
He will return to court on May 25.
Meanwhile, Archer's mother Margaret Archer is accused of helping him after the murder to try to escape prosecution.
It's alleged she sent text messages to family members posing as Ms Meyers and bought the bags of concrete from hardware stores in Mannum.
She has pleaded not guilty to assisting an offender and she will stand trial at a later date.