17 years for killer boxer

A BOXER found guilty of murdering a partygoer who fell to his death at a warehouse rave has been jailed for 17 years. He will serve a non-parole period of at least 12 years.

The dead man's father told the Supreme Court that his sorrow at his son's death was never ending.

But Khalid Baker, 21, still protests his innocence.

"I didn't murder no one, I'm innocent," he told Justice Simon Whelan as he was led from the Supreme Court yesterday.

Baker took part in several unprovoked assaults on guests at the party in Brunswick on November 26, 2005.

Justice Whelan said Baker, of Hoppers Crossing, was involved in violent and aggressive fighting on a landing at the warehouse.

Albert Snowball, 22, was knocked out of a window and fell 5.4m, hitting his head on the footpath.

Mr Snowball, of Perth, was rushed to hospital with brain damage but died.

In May, a jury found Baker guilty of the murder.

Jonathon Snowball told the court of his grief for his son.

"Albert Snowball was my first-born son. I sat him on my knee. I read to him. I carried him against my chest," Mr Snowball said in a victim impact statement.

"He was a good, honourable human being. It is not an easy thing to watch your son die."

Justice Whelan said yesterday that Baker did not intend to kill Mr Snowball or for him to go through the window.

He said while Baker had been found guilty of murder it was a case where "the moral culpability involved approaches the confines of manslaughter".

Justice Whelan said reports tendered to the court suggested Baker had significant problems in his life, which he attributed to his troubles in learning to read and write and prejudice he had experienced because of his colour and religion.