Farmer jailed 16 years for wife's murder

A NSW farmer who shot his wife and buried her with lime to deter wild pigs from disturbing the body has been jailed for at least 16 years for her murder.

Laurence Bede O'Connor told police he had had "a gutful" of Flordelizza O'Connor and shot her as she descended a ladder after repairing a leak on the roof of their property.

Acting Justice Timothy Studdert noted O'Connor resented the "expressed assertion" by his wife that she was "the boss" and told police "she used to yell and scream and screech".

The now 65-year-old admitted to the manslaughter of Flordelizza O'Connor, 47, on the basis of provocation in July last year at their property, called Quandalli, near Tooraweenah, in the state's central western slopes.

But in October, a NSW Supreme Court jury sitting at Dubbo found him guilty of the more serious charge of murder.

In sentencing him last Friday, the judge described the shooting as "callous" and "cowardly".

But he accepted O'Connor was remorseful and concluded he had suffered some loss of self control at the time of the murder.

Two months after the shooting, he confessed his crime and showed police where he had buried her body, in a relatively isolated location on the property.

O'Connor said he placed her body in the bucket scoop of a tractor and placed lime on her body when he buried it.

He told police his wife had been on the roof when she said she had taken his car keys, his wallet, his cheque and deposit books, and had burnt his tobacco.

He unsuccessfully searched for his keys and later told police he had had a "gutful" of his wife doing these things, which he claimed had been going on for years and getting worse.

"There was a loaded .22 rifle kept on the verandah, placed there for shooting birds that raided the strawberries and this was the gun the offender used," the judge noted.

As she descended, he placed the gun against his wife's spine and fired without warning, firing a second shot at her temple when she fell on to the concrete and was moaning.

The judge said the marriage was happy at the outset but stresses developed and increased when their two children left home.

O'Connor, an alcoholic, had resented his wife's wish to participate in decisions about the property, most of which was leased out but which she wanted them to work themselves.

In setting a maximum sentence of 21 years, Justice Studdert said O'Connor shot his unsuspecting victim twice at close range with intent to kill.

The earliest date he will be eligible for parole is September 6, 2023.

Officers cleared of deadly crash-tackle

Mrs Boyd...In a way I knew it would be hard to get a conviction. (Debbie Boyd with her daughter, Rebecca.)

Paul Boyd, 21, had been walking with a group across a car park in Narromine, near Dubbo in the state's west, when two men, Sean Britton, 34, and Eric Coote, 38, [allegedly?] crash-tackled him to the ground.

Mr Boyd did not regain consciousness and died before the ambulance arrived.

Britton, an off-duty police officer at the time, and his friend Eric Coote, a Corrective Services officer, were tried for manslaughter in the District Court this month.

But a judge yesterday acquitted them of killing Mr Boyd and of an alternative charge of assault, as there was not enough evidence to prove how Mr Boyd had died or that the men had tackled him.

"On the evidence presented in this court I could not be satisfied [of] what actually happened … that is why the accused must be acquitted of these charges," Judge Anthony Blackmore told the court.

The decision will be cold comfort for two of Mrs Boyd's other sons, Mark Ernest Boyd and John Gregory Boyd, who are in jail awaiting trial for allegedly stabbing Britton in an attack in November last year, near the anniversary of their brother's death.

Paul Boyd and his friend Graham Jones had been drinking heavily earlier on the night he died. As they walked through a car park nearby, two men got out of a car and started running at Mr Boyd before allegedly tackling him from behind.

Justice Blackmore said he had found several witnesses who claimed to have seen the crash tackle to be unreliable and that they had given evidence believing it must have happened because someone of Mr Boyd's age "does not simply fall on the ground and remain there".

But Justice Blackmore said there was evidence to suggest Mr Boyd's death may not have been the result of a crash-tackle.

[But if someone crash-tackled his relative and they died how would he have judged that?]

Weeks before his death, Mr Boyd had been diagnosed with epilepsy and had been warned by doctors to drink less and make other lifestyle changes.

However, a blood alcohol level upon his death of 0.188 he had not heeded those warnings.

Several witnesses also described Mr Boyd being dropped on his head from a height of 80 centimetres after Mr Jones tried to pick him up as he lay unconscious on the ground.

Justice Blackmore said there had been no physical signs on the clothing of Britton or Coote, such as scuff marks or holes, to suggest that they had performed a tackle.

Outside court, Mrs Boyd said she was "crushed" by the result. "In a way I knew it would be hard to get a conviction."

Quote: This case is a disgrace. Why is there a special disparity of the law for officers when they kill in Australia? No need to wonder why Mrs Boyd was crushed. The protection of those who have served the government is clear. People ought not have any confidence in this judgement or Justice Blackmore's take on the law.

At least 2yrs' jail for Valentine's killer

A real estate agent who shot his wife's lover dead on Valentine's Day last year has been sentenced to at least two years in jail..

Forty-eight-year-old Tony James Riley killed David Nichols in Gulgong, in central western New South Wales, before turning the gun on himself.

Riley was charged with murder but was convicted of manslaughter after pleading guilty to the lesser charge.

His estranged wife, Katherine Riley, told the Supreme Court she and Mr Nichols ran for their lives as her husband started firing at the house they were in on February 14 last year.

Ms Riley said she later found Mr Nichols lying in a pool of blood on the lawn with two gunshot wounds and clutching a cordless phone.

The court heard the killer was depressed at the time over the affair. The defence lawyer said Riley was so ill, he was unable to control his actions.

The court was told the 48-year-old sustained a permanent brain injury and memory loss when he later tried to kill himself.

Acting Justice Matthews today said Riley was unlikely to reoffend and had already suffered punishment.

He has been sentenced to five years in jail with a non-parole period of two years.