Karenjeet Kaur Warburton sentenced for paying others to assault former lover and high ranking police inspector

A former nurse who conspired with an acquaintance to have a high-level police officer’s “d*** cut off and tongue cut out” has been sentenced in the Cairns District Court.

Karenjeet Kaur Warburton was sentenced in the Cairns District Court on Tuesday.

A former nurse who conspired with an acquaintance to have a high-level police officer’s “d*** cut off and tongue cut out” has been sentenced in the Cairns District Court.

Karen Kaur Warburton, 50, pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to procure grievous bodily harm and one count of attempting to procure a malicious act with intent.

Judge Joshua Treviño KC sentenced Warburton to five years in jail, suspended after serving 16 months.

In delivering his sentence, Judge Treviño said the former nurse’s “offending conduct” can “only be described as cold and calculated”.

“The seriousness in your offending is to be found not in the fact that no harm ultimately came to the complainant but rather that you made such plans in the first place,” he said.

“You had multiple opportunities to reassess, to stop, to go no further with your plans. But you didn’t do that.”

‘NEVER WALK OR TALK AGAIN’

The court heard Warburton was in an intimate relationship with senior Queensland Police Inspector Don McKay from March 2020, before ending “acrimoniously” in early 2021.

Between April 1 and October 6, 2021, Warburton paid Cairns man Andrew Bown $3000 and directed him to assault Insp McKay, providing him with photographs and the complainant’s home address.

“Her design in mind was for the complainant to never walk or talk again,” Crown prosecutor Christian Peters said.

“The defendant told Bown she wanted the complainant’s ‘d*** cut off and tongue cut out’.”

An associate Bown attempted to recruit to assist him in the assault rejected his offer soon after, the court heard.

In September 2021, an undercover police officer started communicating with Warburton through an encrypted messaging service about assaulting Insp McKay.

“Ultimately that (law enforcement police officer) met with the defendant and discussed the details of what she wanted to happen,” Mr Peters said.

“The LEP suggested the severing of (Mr McKay)’s spinal cord as well as the breaking of multiple bones in his body.

“And no doubt drawing on her medical expertise to some degree, the defendant provided specific areas of the spine to best give effect to that intention.

“At that point the defendant had a callous disregard and reckless indifference for the life or wellbeing of the complainant.”

Andrew Bown was sentenced in Cairns District Court to three-and-a-half years imprisonment, suspended after six months. Picture: Facebook

Andrew Bown was sentenced in November 2022 in the Cairns District Court to three-and-a-half years imprisonment, suspended after six months, on charges of arson, attempting to procure a person to do grievous bodily harm on another person, and having a dangerous thing for another person to commit a crime with it.

When he was sentenced, the court heard of numerous attempts to injure Insp McKay, including one instance where Bown recruited another man who sprayed lighter fluid across the front of the police officer’s home and set it alight, causing $20,000 damage.

PERSONAL TRAGEDY

The Malaysian-born Warburton studied nursing in the United Kingdom before moving to Australia with her ex-husband in 2007.

But following her divorce, Warburton’s defence said she had experienced several life tragedies which led to excessive drinking of alcohol.

In appealing for a suspended sentence, Warburton’s defence counsel argued she had endured significant personal distress, including the murder of her sister in Germany and the death of her pets over an 18-month period.

Judge Treviño acknowledged Warburton’s remorse and that her alcohol consumption led to her “descent into serious criminality.”

He said she was at “low risk of reoffending” upon release.

“It seems to me you have your rehabilitation in hand,” Judge Treviño said.

Originally published as Karenjeet Kaur Warburton sentenced for paying others to assault former lover and high ranking police inspector