Raymond George ALLEN

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL DIVISION

No 1407 of 2007

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HIS HONOUR:

1 Jamie Leslie Sumner, you have been found guilty of the murder of Raymond Allen and it falls to me to sentence you.

2 You were born on 25 March 1978 as one of the six children of Lawrence and Carolyn Sumner and at the time of the murder on 25 April 2005 you were 27 years of age. You were then unemployed and living with your mother, your younger sister and your younger brother, Daniel. You were also addicted to heroin.

The circumstances of the offence

3 Shortly before Anzac Day 2005, Daniel was admitted to a psychiatric hospital suffering from acute psychosis and depression the result of smoking cannabis. Two days before Anzac Day, while still in hospital, he told your older brother, Stephen Sumner, that he had been anally raped while under the effects of benzodiazepines and cannabis. At the time of making that allegation, Daniel Sumner was distraught and thought to be at risk of suicide. He had been diagnosed as suffering from a serious drug induced psychosis with consequent florid delusions.

4 The Crown case at trial, which I take the jury to have accepted, was that news of the alleged rape spread rapidly through the Sumner family and by 24 April 2005 you knew of the allegation and knew that the culprit was alleged to be Raymond Allen. You were incensed by what you believed Raymond Allen to have done to Daniel and you resolved to find Raymond Allen and kill him. You learned from one of Daniel’s friends that Raymond Allen had recently moved to Mooroopna to live with his father and, on the afternoon of 24 April 2005, you telephoned the Allen residence in Mooroopna and spoke briefly by telephone to Raymond Allen’s grandmother. In that way, you confirmed that Raymond Allen lived there. You then telephoned one of your old friends, Shaun Benporath, who had also moved to live in Mooroopna, and told him that you were coming up to see him.

5 At approximately 9.00 pm that evening, you went to see your heroin dealer, Chi Dung Lien, at a park in Napoleon Street, Footscray and you purchased heroin from him. At that time, you told Lien that your younger brother had been raped by one of his friends and that he was so affected that he had attempted suicide and was in hospital. You also told Lien that you believed that the culprit lived in Shepparton and that you intended to find him and kill him.

6 Later that night, you drove to Mooroopna in your mother’s Commodore motor car and spoke briefly to Shaun Benporath. Then you drove on a further 70km to Cobram to stay the night with your uncle.

7 The next morning, you drove back to Shepparton and spent the remainder of the day with Benporath, and during the day you made several mobile telephone calls to various people of the name of Allen. Possibly, you had lost or did not have with you the telephone number you had called the previous day, and you were seeking to identify it by a process of trial and error. Eventually, however, you contacted Raymond Allen on his mobile telephone at 2.58pm and spoke to him briefly. You asked him whether he had any marijuana and he told you that he did not, and that he did not expect to get any more until Wednesday or Thursday. A little later, he was seen in the local take-away food shop purchasing food and three soft drinks, although it is not known for whom he bought them.

8 At 4.53 pm you called Raymond Allen again on his mobile telephone and told him that you were in Shepparton. He said that he lived in Gange Street but you said that neither you nor Benporath, who was with you then, knew where that was. Raymond Allen mentioned the Bi-Lo supermarket in the Echuca Road and you said that Benporath knew where that was and that you were at that moment driving up the main road from Shepparton to Mooroopna, and that you would meet him at the Bi-Lo in about 15 minutes time. It is not known what else you said during that conversation, but it is to be inferred that you lured Raymond Allen to the meeting by means of some form of misrepresentation as to your purpose.

9 Raymond Allen left home a few moments later. He did not take anything with him apart from his mobile telephone; not even his wallet. He told his sister and grandmother that he was going to the Bi-Lo to meet you and that he would be back in an hour to an hour and a half.

10 I infer that he walked directly to the Bi-Lo supermarket by the shortest route. It took about 15 minutes and therefore he reached the Bi-Lo at around 6.00pm. He was seen crossing the road near the Bi-Lo at that time walking towards a car pulled up parallel to the kerb at the next intersection. It is probable that it was your car. According to telephone call charge records, you made another call to Raymond Allen’s mobile telephone at 6.50 pm of one minute and thirty seconds duration, and it is possible that you were then still arranging to meet. But after that, the call charge records show that you did not make any more calls until 10.30 pm.

11 The Crown case at trial, which I take the jury to have accepted, was that at some time after 6.00 pm or perhaps after 6.50 pm you kidnapped Raymond Allen and subdued him with sufficient force to break his jaw. You then transported him in the back of your mother’s Commodore motor car to a property in Christmas Hills where, if he were not already dead, you killed him and buried his body. Along the way, you arranged by mobile telephone for Lien to drive out to Somerton to supply you with more heroin. In accordance with your request, he met you at around midnight on a deserted side road off the Hume Highway near the Note Printing Works at Craigieburn. While there injecting yourself with heroin, Lien asked you whether you had found the boy who raped your brother and you said that you had. You implied that he was on the back seat in your car lying down because he had a broken jaw.

12 After concluding your business with Lien, you drove ahead of Lien’s car for some distance north along the Hume Highway to a cross-over, and then south until you reached the intersection of the highway with Cooper Street. From there Lien continued south towards Melbourne and you turned east towards the Christmas Hills property where you killed Raymond Allen and buried his body.

13 The next night you met Lien again at the park in Napoleon Street in Footscray, to purchase more heroin. On that occasion, you told Lien that you had killed the boy by stabbing him repeatedly in the throat after he had begged for his life and that his body was in a concrete pipe either in the forest in the mountains or, as Lien said that he may have heard you say, in a pipe under the road in Melton. I doubt that you said ‘Melton’. I think it more likely that Lien misheard you. But whether you said ‘Melton’ or not, Lien was clear that he heard you say you had killed the boy by stabbing him, and disposed of his body, and it is implicit in the verdict that the jury accepted that evidence.

14 Some days later you went to Lien again to purchase more heroin, on that occasion in a larger amount than usual. You drove to that meeting in your brother, Stephen Sumner’s, Toyota High Ace van. You told Lien that the deceased’s family had been in contact with members of your family and that you had to do something about the deceased’s body because you feared that it could be found where it was. After concluding your business with Lien, you drove off in the van.

15 Days after that, you returned to Lien for more heroin, at which time it appeared to Lien that you were suffering badly from heroin deprivation. You told Lien that you had been to an area near the New South Wales border and that you had disposed of the deceased’s body by burning it to dust. You also said that the van had become stuck in the mud in the forest and that you were fortunate that a man with a four-wheel drive had come along and was able to pull you out.

16 The man who pulled you out of the bog gave evidence at the trial. He confirmed that he had pulled a Toyota van out of the mud in the Barmah State Forest at about the time in question and he produced a composite FACE image of the driver of the van. Although he was unable to identify your photograph from a police photo board, the composite FACE image bore a striking resemblance to your appearance.

Nature and gravity of offence

17 The nature and gravity of your offence are extreme. The jury has found that you intentionally killed Raymond Allen by repeatedly stabbing him in the neck after he begged you not to take his life. It is apparent that your motive was to exact vengeance for what you believed to have been the rape of your brother, Daniel. But as appellate courts have repeatedly made clear, the idea that individual citizens may take the law into their hands is quite mistaken.[1] Even if the allegation of rape were true, it would in no way lessen the gravity of your offence. In fact, however, as was emphasised at trial, there is no proof that the deceased ever raped Daniel Allen or otherwise sexually assaulted him, and there is every reason to suppose that he did not. They were close friends who used to ride push-bikes and play together during their time at school and later after they left school. Raymond Allen was a frequent visitor to the Sumner family home and Daniel was a visitor to the deceased’s mother’s home. The allegation of rape was made when Daniel was profoundly psychotic and experiencing a succession of bizarre delusions. And at various times Daniel made several versions of the allegation; in one of them accusing an unnamed adult sexual predator.

Aggravating circumstances

18 Your offence is aggravated by the fact that the killing was planned, pre-meditated, cold-blooded and committed in secret, and by your conduct in destroying the deceased’s body in order to avoid detection.[2] You thereby denied him a funeral and deprived his family of the ability properly to mourn his passing. Your crime is made worse by the deceased’s youth. For like Daniel, he was only sixteen years of age, albeit shortly to turn seventeen, and plainly he was a vulnerable victim. I judge your culpability and responsibility for this offence to be high.

Lack of remorse

19 Equally disturbing is the fact that you show no signs of remorse. You pleaded not guilty, as was your right and for which you are not to be punished.[3] But even now, in face of the jury’s verdict, you continue to deny your involvement. As the deceased’s grandmother and sister showed in their evidence at trial, and now appears more clearly in their victim impact statements, they are devastated by the deceased’s death and the manner in which he was killed. It is probable that it will take a very long time for them to overcome their anguish. Yet, from all that appears, you do not have the slightest regret or contrition or empathy towards them.

Mitigating circumstances

20 Despite your continued denial of guilt, it was submitted in mitigation of penalty that, at the time of your offending, you were a daily heroin user and that your heroin addiction had led you to a life-style whereby you let your family down. Thus it was to be inferred, it was suggested, that your heroin addiction and attendant life style made you prone to extravagant displays of family allegiance as a means, in your mind, of redressing your shortcomings. So it could be inferred, it was submitted, that your offending was informed subconsciously by thinking of that kind.

21 I do not accept the submission. Although I allow that you were addicted to heroin, and that you had let down your family badly as a result of it, your refusal to accept the jury’s verdict, and therefore not to instruct counsel as to what you had in mind when you murdered Raymond Allen, leaves me in the position where I can do no more than speculate as to whether there is anything in the analysis which counsel proffered. Whatever the effects of your heroin addiction may have been, there is nothing in the evidence sufficient to support the existence of mitigating circumstances of the kind suggested.[4] Nor is there anything to show that your thinking was compromised by the presence or absence of heroin in your system. Such evidence as there is suggests that the heroin which you took was likely to have made you feel and think normally for some hours after injecting; and it is to be noted that you injected with heroin at Somerton with Lien shortly before driving on to Christmas Hills to complete the killing.

22 Counsel further submitted on your behalf that your offending was to be seen as the result of a dysfunctional family life and the absence of an appropriate father figure. Your father was sent to gaol in 1987 when you were only nine years old and, as counsel explained, apart from a relatively short break he remained in gaol for a total of seven years. Consequently, your mother had considerable financial problems in simply keeping the family going and you were sent on occasion to live with your grandparents. That led to restlessness and truancy, time on the streets, some stealing and window breaking and other petty adolescent offences.

23 You left school at 14 years of age and got a job in Hungry Jack’s restaurant. But you began to smoke marijuana in 1993, and in 1994 when you were 16 years of age you were brought before the Children’s Court for several offences of unlicensed driving, obtaining property by deception, burglary, assaulting police, possession of cannabis, theft, making threats, theft of a motor vehicle and a variety of similar transgressions. The Children’s Court attempted to provide guidance by subjecting you to a supervision order, and that led to your involvement in the ‘Break the Cycle’ programme and employment in Sizzlers restaurant in 1995. To your credit, you there advanced from kitchen hand to manager. But you lost that position in 1997 when Sizzlers became insolvent.

24 At the age of 18 you were introduced to heroin by a friend and in the same year you were found guilty of offences of stealing, using amphetamines and cannabis, burglary, going equipped to steal and criminal damage and driving offences. On that occasion, you were sentenced to a community based order.

25 In 1999 you obtained employment as a storeman with Magnafield, which I was told was a company that distributed and serviced computers, and in time you were promoted to sales and maintenance positions advancing to the level of assistant manager. But you left that work when you were unable any longer to cope because of your drug dependency.

26 By 2000 you had become a daily heroin user and in 2001 you were sentenced to a combined custody and treatment order. But regrettably, it had no more beneficial effect on you than the supervision order previously imposed by the Children’s Court. In the years which followed until 2005, you committed and were repeatedly found guilty of an increasing range of offences of theft, cheating, possession of drugs, and driving while unlicensed. By that time, as counsel put it, you were spiralling out of control and continued to do so all the way up to the murder of Raymond Allen.

27 I accept that those are considerations which are relevant to the sentencing exercise albeit not of themselves a mitigating factor.[5]

Prospects of rehabilitation

28 Counsel argued on your behalf that since being arrested for this offence you have done something positive about turning your life around. You have remained drug free for the whole period in which you have been in gaol, as demonstrated by your voluntary subjection to regular urine testing throughout that period. You have completed courses in occupational health and safety, food handling, worker safety and kitchen hygiene, as well as drug education programmes and drug relapse prevention programmes, and you have been appointed a billet within the prison kitchen which means that you are a trusted prisoner. You have, too, mastered word processing to a level whereby you were able to deliver all your instructions to counsel in typed form. In counsel’s submission, all these things auger well for your eventual rehabilitation.

29 I agree with that submission up to a point. Your change in attitude, your abstinence from drugs and the other significant steps which you have taken to improve yourself are commendable. But, in my view, until and unless you accept the jury’s verdict and acknowledge your wrongdoing, your chances of rehabilitation will remain limited.[6]

Maximum penalty

30 The maximum penalty for murder is life imprisonment and, although I do not regard that as an appropriate penalty in your case, I consider that it is necessary to impose a lengthy sentence of imprisonment in order adequately to reflect the court’s abhorrence and denunciation of your crime, to provide just punishment and to deter others from taking the law into their own hands in the way that you did. Your criminal history and failure to respond to previous therapeutic sentencing orders implies that there is also a need for a level of specific deterrence. I accept that, in view of the progress you have made in prison, the chances of you re-offending are less now than once they might have been. But your refusal to accept the jury’s verdict and acknowledge your crime detract significantly from the weight which I am prepared to accord those improvements.

Current sentencing practices

31 In imposing sentence, I am required to have regard to current sentencing practices. As is to be expected, sentences for murder vary significantly according to the circumstances of the case. But such trend as may be discerned is indicative of a total effective sentence of substantially more than 20 years of imprisonment for an offence of this nature and gravity and your level of moral culpability.[7]

Totality

32 Finally, I take into account for the purposes of totality that, at the time of your arrest on 19 December 2005, you were serving an aggregate sentence of 18 months’ imprisonment imposed on you by the Magistrates’ Court on 9 December 2005 in relation to other offences, and that it was not completed until 3 April 2007. That means that the sentence which I am about to impose on you is less than otherwise it would have been.

33 Balancing those considerations as best I may, and bearing in mind in particular the nature and gravity of your offence, your refusal to accept the jury’s verdict and acknowledge your offending, your lack of remorse and your prospects of rehabilitation, I have determined that you should be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of twenty-two years with a non-parole period of eighteen years.

34 I shall also make orders pursuant to s.78(1) of the Confiscation Act 1997 for the forfeiture to the State of the items of personal property that were used or capable of being used in connection with the murder of the deceased.

Sentence

35 Jamie Leslie Sumner, on the count of murder of Raymond Allen of which you have been convicted, I sentence you to twenty two (22) years’ imprisonment. I set a non-parole period of eighteen (18) years. I declare that the period to be reckoned as already served under the sentence I have imposed on you is (417) days, inclusive of today’s date. I direct that there be noted in the Court’s records the fact that the declaration has been made and its details and I make the order for confiscation of property to which I have referred.

CONCERN FOR MISSING MAN – Raymond George Allen

Thu 19 May 2005

Police plan air search for missing boy
May 19, 2005
From: AAP

AN air search will be carried out tomorrow over parts of northern Victoria for a 17-year-old boy missing for almost a month.

Raymond George Allen was last seen leaving his home in Gange Street, Mooroopna, after telling his family he was walking to the local Bi-Lo supermarket to meet a friend on April 25.
Police will conduct an aerial search of the area tomorrow and set up an an information caravan Monday next week.

The caravan will be manned from 5pm to 8pm (AEST) outside the Mooroopna Bi-Lo store on Echuca Road.

Revenge a motive, says distressed mother
By Anthony Dowsley and Holly Ife
May 30, 2005

THE grief-stricken mother of a missing Victorian teenager believes he may be the victim of a revenge attack.

Katrina Rowlands, whose son Raymond Allen vanished near Shepparton more than a month ago, said she believed he had been kidnapped by someone she recently accused of a crime.
Raymond, who missed his 17th birthday on May 9, was last seen in Mooroopna on Anzac Day before failing to meet an acquaintance at a supermarket in the town.

Police have since used helicopters, divers and dogs in a search for Raymond. "As far as I'm concerned, I really think this is revenge," Mrs Rowlands said. "I'm trying to find out more. I know that he hasn't run away."

Ms Rowlands said she just wanted answers as to what had happened.

"Some days, I don't want to comprehend because I'm scared of knowing. My brain is telling me one thing and my subconscious is telling me another thing."

The homicide squad's missing persons unit has taken on the case and a manned caravan has been placed in Echuca Rd, Mooroopna, in an effort to obtain a lead.

No sightings of Raymond have been reported since he left his father's Gange St home about 5.30pm on April 25.

He was to meet a friend at the Bi-Lo supermarket on Echuca Rd, but did not show up.

His mobile phone has not been used and his welfare claims have not been lodged.

Raymond lived with his father, George, in Mooroopna after moving from Keilor Downs, where he had lived with his mother.

A run-in with police over an alleged theft from a wrecking yard had been a factor in the move. He was to appear in court on June 6 over the matter.

George Allen said the wait for news got harder each day.

"It's just unbearable. It's mind-numbing," he said.

Mr Allen said someone must know something about his disappearance. "Please, please just come forward. His parents and sister just want him home. We just want him back. I want my little boy safe and home," he said.

Raymond moved to Mooroopna, where he hoped to find work, about six weeks before his disappearance.

Mr Allen said his son had no reason to run away. "If he is still alive, he is being held against his will."

Raymond was extremely close to his 15-year-old sister Bianca.

"She is staying strong, but it's affecting her," Mr Allen said.

He has accepted police were now looking for his son's body, but had a message for anyone who has hurt Raymond: "We are coming for you. You will be caught."

Anyone with information on Raymond's disappearance can call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Missing teen baffles police
By CARLY CRAWFORD - Herald Sun
22may05

TWO men who were to meet missing Mooroopna teenager Raymond George Allen the day he vanished have given statements to police.

The men are among many who have tried to help investigators unravel the mystery disappearance of Mr Allen, 17.
No sightings of Mr Allen have been reported since he left his father's Gange St home about 5.30pm on Anzac Day.

He was to meet a friend, known only as Jamie, at the Bi-Lo supermarket on Echuca Rd. But Mr Allen never showed up and there has been no trace of him since.

His mobile phone has not been used, his welfare claims have not been lodged.

His welfare payments have been cancelled because he has not maintained contact with Centrelink.

His father has had no contact from the devoted son he calls "Mini Me".

The homicide squad's missing persons unit has taken over the investigation. While police are keeping an open mind, they fear the worst.

"It (murder) is one of many scenarios, but it's a suspicious disappearance," Det-Sen Sgt Tony Thatcher said. "There is the possibility he might have met with foul play."

Police will set up an information caravan outside the Bi-Lo store between 5pm and 8pm tomorrow.

Mr Allen's father, George Allen, has no idea what happened to him.

"It's unbearable. I just don't know what to do."

His father said Mr Allen was in good health and had no history of depression, making suicide unlikely.

"Police keep in touch regularly, but they just keep hitting dead ends," he said.

Mr Allen lived with his father in Mooroopna for several months after moving from Keilor Downs, where he had lived with his mother.

His parents decided on the move after he had a run-in with the law over alleged theft from a wrecking yard. Mr Allen was to appear in court over the matter on June 6.

The teenager was close to his parents and had no reason to run away.

"If he's out there, he wouldn't be out there of his own free will," his father said.

"There's no reason he wouldn't want to be here. We're like peas in a pod."

He turned 17 on May 9, after he vanished.

"It was a miserable day," his father said.

Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000

White car key to missing teen
June 23, 2005
From: AAP
POLICE believe a white Holden Commodore could be the key to the disappearance of a 17-year-old boy in northern Victoria.

Missing Persons Unit detectives have uncovered new evidence in the case of Raymond George Allan, missing since Anzac Day.
Raymond was last seen leaving his home in Gange Street, Mooroopna, after telling his family he was walking to the local Bi-Lo supermarket to meet a friend on April 25.

Detectives said they had received further information from several people in the Mooroopna and Shepparton area.

Police are now looking for an early-model Commodore sedan, possibly carrying three people, spotted near the supermarket on the afternoon that Raymond was last seen.

Police conducted an air search over parts of northern Victoria one month after Raymond's disappearance, and set up an information caravan outside the supermarket.

Wednesday, September 21, 2005. 1:24pm (AEST)
Police seek four-wheel-drive owner in search for missing teen - ABC

Police believe the driver of a four-wheel-drive may be able to help solve the disappearance of a teenager from Mooroopna, near Shepparton in north-east Victoria, earlier this year.

Police believe an early 1980s Toyota Hiace van may have been involved in the disappearance Raymond George Allen, in April.

The van later became bogged and received assistance from a four-wheel-drive owner who towed the van from the bog.

Police are asking the driver of the four-wheel-drive to contact them.

Investigation into disappearance of Mooroopna youth

Release date: Wed 21 September 2005

Last updated: Wed 21 September 2005

Police seek 4WD clue to missing boy
By Selma Milovanovic and Elisabeth Lopez
September 21, 2005 - 1:51PM - The Age

Police are seeking a 1983-84 Toyota Hiace van.

Police are looking for the owner of a four-wheel drive linked to the suspected murder of a 17-year-old boy from central Victoria in April.

Raymond George Allen was last seen on the main street of Mooroopna, near Shepparton, on Anzac Day.

He had told his father he was on his way to a local Bi-Lo supermarket to meet a friend.

Detective Inspector Bernie Rankin from the Missing Persons Unit said today police had "treated this as a very suspicious disappearance from the outset".

"All indications are this is a homicide," he said.

The missing persons unit has released a photo of a white 1983/84 Toyota Hiace van similar to one they believe was involved in Allen's disappearance.

The van was believed to have been bogged up to its axle in a country area a short time after Allen went missing.

The four-wheel-drive owner towed the van from the mud .

At the time of his disappearance, Allen had recently moved to his father's house in Mooroopna from Keilor Downs in Melbourne's north-west, where he had lived with his mother.

Jamie Sumner, 27, one of the men whom Allen was supposed to meet at the time he went missing, has been interviewed by police. He denies any involvement in the case.

Advertisement
AdvertisementInspector Rankin said police had identified a number of suspects and interviewed several people.

"This (the four-wheel drive owner) is the vital information that we need that may just provide us with that additional evidence we need to ascertain what exactly happened to Ray," Inspector Rankin said.

Police have so far seized four cars, used helicopters, divers and dogs and set up an information caravan in their search for Allen.

Anyone with information should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

- theage.com.au

Man charged over missing teen murder

December 19, 2005 - The Australian

POLICE have charged a man with the murder of a northern Victoria teenager who went missing eight months ago.

Raymond George Allen, 17, was last seen on April 25 leaving his home in Gange Street, Mooroopna, after telling his family he was walking to the local Bi-Lo supermarket to meet a friend.

Police have conducted a number of searches around the Mooroopna area but have been unable to find any trace of the young man.

Detective Inspector Bernie Rankin has previously said the Anzac Day disappearance was being treated as a murder investigation.

"Mr Allen had no need to disappear," he said.

"He was constantly in contact with friends and family and was in receipt of social security benefits."

Homicide Squad detectives today charged a 27-year-old man from East Keilor with murder.

He was remanded in custody today to appear at Melbourne Magistrates' Court on April 7, 2006.

Rural reporter

Mustering The Forest – Melanie Sim (Shepparton, VIC)  - ABC

The annual Barmah muster in north-east Victoria has wrapped up for another year with the last of the cattle being trucked out for the winter. But the cattlemen were on the look out for more than just their cattle this year as local detectives had enlisted their help to search for Mooroopna teenager Raymond Allen, who's been missing for the past 12 months. Police believe he has been murdered and his body buried in the Barmah forest region. Despite the extra manpower no body was found during the week-long muster.


Missing youth: 2 accused
Kate Uebergang - Herald Sun
August 09, 2006 12:00am

A SECOND man has appeared in court charged with the murder of a missing teen who is believed to have been tortured and killed.

Shaun Jarrod Benporath, 24, appeared at Shepparton Magistrates' Court yesterday charged with the murder of Raymond Allen, 16, who went missing after leaving his Mooroopna home on April 25 last year.
Jamie Leslie Sumner, 28, appeared at Melbourne Magistrates' Court in December also charged with the teenager's murder.

Police allege Mr Sumner, of Keilor East, and Mr Benporath, of Mooroopna, abducted and killed Raymond Allen, believing he had sexually assaulted another youth.

Police documents, tendered to court in April, allege the youth told family members Raymond Allen had drugged and raped him during a sleepover.

Police claim the accused men then organised a meeting with Raymond Allen, who had moved to Mooroopna to live with his father, under the guise of giving him marijuana.

The teenager's father, George Allen, said his son left home about 5.30pm on Anzac Day, saying he was going to meet someone named Jamie outside a BiLo supermarket.

Police allege the teen was abducted, questioned over the alleged rape before being hit, having his throat cut, then stabbed.

Mr Sumner allegedly told a friend he buried the teen's body under a large cement pipe in the forest.

Police claim the body was later removed and the remains burned.

The teenager's body has never been found.

Both men have been remanded in custody.

Mr Benporath is to appear at Melbourne Magistrates' Court this Friday.

Mr Sumner is to appear next Monday.

Keilor East man jailed over teen's murder

Updated May 23, 2008 15:24:00 - ABC

A Keilor East man has been sentenced to 22 years in prison for stabbing to death a teenager.

A jury has found 30 year old Jamie Sumner guilty of murdering 16 year old Raymond Allen of Mooroopna in April 2005.

The Supreme Court was told Sumner kidnapped and stabbed the teenager out of revenge, because he believed Raymond Allen had raped his brother.

The jury heard that Sumner lured Mr Allen to a meeting place in Shepparton and stabbed him repeatedly in the neck.

In sentencing, Justice Jeffery Nettle said Sumner's brother made the rape allegation when he was psychotic and delusional.

The judge said there was every reason to suppose the allegation was not true and there was no proof Sumner's brother had been sexually assaulted.

The Court heard Sumner told his heroin dealer that he disposed of the body in a concrete pipe, then later burnt it in a New South Wales state forest.

The teenager's body has never been found.

Sumner will serve a minimum of 18 years.

Man jailed for murdering 16-year-old boy