Victims of Crime fund fraudster Nicholas Lowe found guilty of attempted murder of Nanette Clarke at Port Lincoln in 2003
FOR more than a decade, Nicholas Wayne Lowe got away with the attempted murder of his girlfriend’s stepmother — but it was his “narcissistic” greed that ultimately brought his secret undone.
FOR more than a decade, Nicholas Wayne Lowe got away with the attempted murder of his girlfriend’s stepmother — but it was his “narcissistic” greed that ultimately brought his secret undone.
Lowe, who is already serving a 10-year jail term for an audacious fraud upon the state’s Victims of Crime fund, was on Thursday convicted of the attempted murder of Nanette Clarke at her Port Lincoln home in August 2003.
It is the first time The Advertiser has been able to reveal the link between Lowe’s $1.135m fraud and the attempted murder charge, after a suppression order lapsed with the guilty verdict.
Police only arrested Lowe for the brutal assault on Ms Clarke after his DNA — taken after his arrest for the fraud charges — matched that taken from the bloody crime scene.
Lowe, 33, stood impassively, staring straight ahead, as the unanimous guilty verdict was announced, before acknowledging his mother, who was weeping in the court gallery.
Ms Clarke was lucky to survive being bashed with a heavy aluminium pipe and left unconscious after interrupting a man wearing a balaclava in her Bay View Rd home.
She spent four weeks in hospital and lost 70 per cent of her hearing in her left ear.
After the verdict, Ms Clarke said she was pleased Lowe had been found guilty after a second trial. “I’m feeling just hugely relieved ... it’s been 12 years. It’s been a long, long time,” she said.
During the trial, Lowe’s then-partner told the jury he had got up during the night fully clothed then made a comment about a stray animal in their yard when she got up to investigate.
Lowe’s lawyers told the court the discovery of their client’s DNA at the crime scene could be explained because he had cooked dinner at the home, and used items later used to clean up after the attack.
Defence lawyer Heather Stokes told Justice Malcolm Blue she would need to speak with Lowe over the weekend before deciding whether he would appeal.
The verdict signalled the final fall from grace for Lowe, who several years ago was living the high life and posing for holiday snaps with wads of cash siphoned from the fund designed to care for vulnerable victims.
Lowe used his position as a law clerk in the Crown Solicitor’s office to approve fraudulent crime compensation claims between $10,000 and $50,000 from October 2008 to August 2012.
He pleaded guilty to 26 aggravated counts of dishonestly dealing with documents. He personally reaped $491,000 from the scam.
He was jailed for 10 years with a non parole period of seven years. His wife, Andrea Lowe — who worked as a personal assistant to then Police Minister Jennifer Rankine — was given a suspended sentence after pleading guilty to impeding an investigation. Six other men were also convicted for their involvement.
During sentencing for the fraud, District Court judge Paul Muscat described Lowe as a “narcissist” and the “one rotten apple spoiling the barrel”.
“Why did you do all this? The answer is simple — you were in it for the money ... you were motivated by pure greed and building your material and financial wealth,” Judge Muscat said.
Prosecutor Peter Longson asked Justice Malcolm Blue to consider ordering sentencing submissions and sentencing to take place in Port Lincoln.
Mr Longson said moving the sentencing hearing would allow Ms Clarke and her family to be present without a lengthy journey and help bring closure to the Port Lincoln community.
“This matter was a very serious crime which had a great impact on the community of Port Lincoln ... the people of Port Lincoln should have the opportunity to see and hear the judiciary bringing this matter to a close,” he said.
The matter will return to court next week.
It was the second time Lowe had faced trial for the attack, after a jury failed to return a verdict in his first trial.
He now faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.
The crimes of Nicholas Lowe
THE ATTEMPTED MURDER
■ Nanette Clarke is beaten with a 43cm aluminium pole inside her Port Lincoln home on August 19, 2003.
■ Ms Clarke suffers severe head lacerations requiring 100 stitches, her right arm is broken in two places and she loses nearly 70 per cent of hearing in left ear.
■ A DNA profile of the attacker is found on a metal bar, a water bucket in the kitchen, a blue balaclava and in drops of blood on a door.
■ The DNA sample provided by Nicholas Lowe on his arrest for the Victims of Crime Fund fraud matches the DNA obtained from the scene of Ms Clarke’s attack.
■ Lowe is arrested and charged in April 2013 with the attempted murder of Ms Clarke, but his identity is suppressed to avoid prejudicing his trial.
■ A jury in Lowe’s first trial in 2014 fails to reach a verdict and a retrial is ordered.
■ A Supreme Court jury unanimously finds Lowe guilty of attempted murder following the retrial.
THE FRAUD
■ Nicholas Lowe, wife Andrea Lowe and five others are arrested and charged in 2012 over a fraud racket involving the Victims of Crime Fund.
■ Nicholas Lowe, below, is identified as the ringleader of the racket, which siphoned more than $1 million from the fund between 2008 and 2012.
■ In May 2013, he pleads guilty to 26 aggravated counts of dishonest dealing with documents.
■ Lowe had pocketed $491,200 of the $1.135 million illegally obtained by the fraud by using his delegation to approve Victims of Crime claims of less than $10,000, the majority of those paid out by the fund.
■ He had used the embezzled money to fund a lifestyle of “greed” and “excess”.
■ In December 2014, Lowe is sentenced to 10 years in jail with a non-parole period of seven years.