Mark Valera
| Mark Valera | |
|---|---|
| Born | 24 April 1979 |
| Other names | Mark van Krevel |
| Criminal penalty | 2 x life imprisonment without parole |
| Criminal status | Incarcerated at Goulburn Correctional Centre |
| Conviction(s) | Murder x 2 |
Mark Valera (previously Mark van Krevel) (born 24 April 1979) is an Australian murderer who was convicted in 2000 of the murders of David O'Hearn and Frank Arkell at Wollongong, New South Wales.
David O'Hearn was murdered in his Albion Park home on 12 June 1998. His head was smashed in with a wine decanter. He was then decapitated, with his head later found in the kitchen sink. His hand was cut off, and he had been partially disemboweled. Valera had used O'Hearn's hand to draw several satanic pictures on the living room walls.
Frank Arkell, a former Wollongong Mayor and former member of the New South Wales State Parliament, was murdered in his Wollongong home on 26 June 1998. His head had been smashed in with a bedside lamp, with the electric cord wrapped tightly around his neck. Tie pins were stuck in Arkell's eyes and cheeks. Arkell had been mentioned in the Wood Royal Commission's report; he had been embroiled in child pornography and paedophilia scandals in the years leading up to his death, and he had been acquitted of child sex offences six months before his murder, but investigations were continuing, with further charges to be laid.
Three months after the two murders, Mark Valera turned up at Wollongong Police Station to confess to the crimes. Valera (previously known as Mark van Krevel) was a 19-year-old local who had never come under police notice before. He lived in different places around the area, including a house with a friend which was just a few doors down the street from David O'Hearn.
At his trial in 2000, Valera claimed that his father, Jack van Krevel, had sexually and physically assaulted him during his childhood, and that this led him to commit the two murders. He claimed that David O'Hearn had sexually propositioned him and this caused flashbacks of his troubled childhood. He also claimed that Frank Arkell, an alleged paedophile, had done the same, and that he was trying to save a child from suffering.
In December 2000, Valera was found guilty of the murders, and was later sentenced to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. He later appealed against the sentence, but the appeal was rejected.
He is serving his sentence at Goulburn Correctional Centre.
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