Man who killed friend, dumped body jailed

A Melbourne ice addict who stabbed his new friend in the chest and dumped the body has been jailed for at least six years.

Danny Volpe, 61, met Cameron Harris, 39, through a mutual friend.

Days later, they fought at a car park, with Volpe telling someone he wanted to bash Mr Harris because "he'd had enough".

Volpe then stabbed Mr Harris once in the chest while the victim was driving a ute before cleaning the vehicle and its seat covers.

He thought Mr Harris, whose body was found at a reserve near the Upper Ferntree Gully Preschool in September 2016, had threatened his family.

Volpe was sentence on Friday at Victoria's Supreme Court to nine years in prison. He must serve six years before becoming eligible for parole.

Justice Jane Dixon said Volpe had a "chaotic lifestyle" at the time that involved heavy drug use. Volpe had become "inflamed in anger", she said, with the stabbing an impulsive and spontaneous action.

"You stabbed him once then drove him to hospital," Justice Dixon said.

"But when you realised he had died, you left his body in a public place. That was a cowardly act."

Volpe was originally sentenced to 19 years in prison for murdering Mr Harris.

But his conviction was overturned in 2020 after Victoria's Court of Appeal ruled that evidence about imprints near Mr Harris' body linked to a women's running shoe found at Volpe's home amounted to a miscarriage of justice.

He later pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Volpe has already served four years and eight months in custody.