An Australian court today sentenced a Melbourne teenager to 13 years in jail for murdering Indian student Nitin Garg, a crime which outraged public opinion in India and put the bilateral relations under stress.

The teenager, whose identity has not been revealed as he is a minor, had pleaded guilty in April to one count of murder and one count of attempted armed robbery in the killing of 21-year-old Garg. Garg, who migrated from Punjab, was fatally stabbed in the abdomen by assailants in Cruickshank Park in Melbourne's Yarraville while on his way to work in January last year. Justice Paul Coghlan of the Victoria state Supreme Court sentenced the teenager to 13 years in jail, with a non-parole period of eight years, Australian news agency AAP reported. Justice Coghlan said the killing was awful and tragic. He, however, said it was a crime of opportunity rather than race. He found the task of sentencing a very difficult one, the judge said.

"In circumstances such as these there are just no winners." The justice said one able young man was dead, while the teenager's life had changed forever. "Although this was a very serious crime, it was committed spontaneously," he said, adding, "It should be noted, however, that you chose to arm yourself and did a great deal to avoid apprehension for your crime." The accused was 15 and a half when he stabbed Garg, an accounts graduate. The murder, which followed a series of attacks on Indians, made international headlines and provoked fear among Indian students in Australia. The incident led to outcry in India, forcing the police authorities to solve it.