A Canberra man has been jailed for 12 years over two violent home invasions, the second of which ended in an alleged murder.
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![An old photo of Eden Waugh An old photo of Eden Waugh](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/fdcx/doc6snh8coza7t1dljq4fq1.jpg/r0_367_3429_2296_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Eden Waugh, 37, died on November 3, 2016, after he was shot through the front door of his Watson home while trying to prevent people entering.
The alleged home invaders stepped over his body when they allegedly ransacked the house.
It was Phouthakone Sikounnabouth, 23, who had driven the men to the Watson home that day and drove them away knowing they had killed him.
Three months earlier, he had joined the same two men in another home invasion at the same house.
Sikounnabouth held a metal bat while the others carried a gun and machete, and they attacked the people inside over an earlier drug deal that did not go through.
He also lied to police and frustrated the investigation.
The two other men have been arrested and charged with the murder. They have pleaded not guilty.
Sikounnabouth appeared in the ACT Supreme Court on Thursday where he was sentenced over his crimes.
He had earlier pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery and accessory after the fact to murder.
Prosecutor Anthony Williamson said the attacks were an example of discipline being meted out by those in the criminal underworld and courts have said such conduct should not be condoned.
Mr Waugh's parents read emotional victim impact statements to the court during the sentence hearing on Thursday.
"I realise that Eden was not without faults," his father Alexander Waugh said.
"But he was such a caring, kind-hearted and talented young man. He did not deserve to die, especially in such a violent cold-hearted and cowardly manner."
In her victim impact statement, his mother Elaine Waugh said, "I will miss him every day for the rest of my life.
"There's a piece of my heart that will never heal."
Sikounnabouth himself wrote a letter to the court, saying he was prepared to face the consequences of what he had done even as he asked the court to have mercy.
Justice Michael Elkaim said the offending was in the context of the pernicious world of drug dealing, where all vestiges of decency in respect of the well being of others were extinguished.
He sentenced Sikounnabouth to 12 years jail, setting a non-parole term of seven years and three months.
Sikounnabouth will be eligible for release in November 2026.