Limestone Coast and Mount Gambier criminals whose crimes shocked the courts in 2024
Brutal murders, vile sex crimes, mass drug trafficking, violent assaults and more … here some of the worst South-East offenders in court this year.
Police & Courts
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Savage murderers, heartless drug dealers and a serial sex offender who destroyed the lives of children in his own family – here are some of the people from the South-East and Limestone Coast who faced court in the in 2024.
Cody Edwards
On the afternoon of September 6, 2024, a packed courtroom inside the Mount Gambier Courthouse erupted into outrage when Cody James Edwards, 27, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for the manslaughter of Synamin Bell.
Ms Bell’s distraught friends and family, who that morning stood outside the courthouse with signs and T-shirts demanding ‘Justice for Synamin’ called the sentence a “joke”.
Edwards savagely beat death the young mother to death in March 2022 in a drug-fuelled psychosis.
“It’s not what we feared, it’s what we expected and that’s the sad part really,” Ms Bell’s younger sister, Shenta Bell said of her sister’s killer’s sentence.
“(The trial) barely felt like it was about Synamin – it was made all about Cody, his drug use and what he’d gone through in life.
“She was a person – an amazing person - … she deserved justice and she didn’t get it.”
The court heard Edwards killed Ms Bell – a 26-year-old mother of three – in the master-bedroom of her Millicent home after the pair consumed the psychedelic drug DOI and he experienced a paranoid psychosis that caused him to believe Ms Bell intended to kill him.
He killed her first in an act of “excessive self-defence”, the court heard.
“In Mr Edwards’ own words, ‘he just kept hitting her’, Edwards’ lawyer, Steven Millsteed KC, said.
The court heard Ms Bell was left with more than 50 injuries to her head and body – including five stab wounds inflicted post-mortem.
Edwards was arrested the night of her death and subsequently charged with murder, to which he pleaded not guilty.
His murder trial began in June 2024 but part way through Edwards pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter, outraging Ms Bell’s friends and family who feared this plea would allow him to get off with a “slap on the wrist”.
“Everyone knows drugs and other substances can alter your perception of reality and make you think and behave in ways you usually wouldn’t but it shouldn’t be a reason for someone to get off lightly for committing a crime,” Ms Bell’s close friend, Kimmi Smith said shortly after Edwards changed his plea.
Ms Bell’s family and friends launched a petition calling for sentencing changes for drug-afflicted killers.
Attorney-General Kyam Maher said he would investigate law reforms so the partial defence of excessive self-defence would no longer be available to people who killed someone as a result of delusions experienced because of self-induced intoxication.
James Bryson
In January, 21-year-old James Paul Bryson from Padthaway made his first court appearance at Naracoorte over a crash that killed a Victorian couple in November 2023.
Mount Gambier Magistrates Court later heard on the morning of the crash Bryson was driving a Toyota ute when he collided with a Ford Territory carrying Mr Frazer and Ms Thomson at the intersection of the Riddoch Highway and McGrice Road near Willalooka.
Bryson was taken to the Mount Gambier Hospital with serious injuries but both Mr Frazer and Ms Thomson tragically died at the scene.
The court heard Bryson had a blood-alcohol concentration of above 0.08 at the time of the crash.
He pleaded guilty to two counts of causing death by dangerous driving.
Upon entering his guilty pleas, the prosecutors asked for Bryson’s bail to be revoked, but Magistrate Koula Kossiavelos said not enough notice had been given for his defence lawyer to respond.
At least three of Mr Frazer’s five children have attended Mr Bryson’s hearings throughout the year, along with members of Mr Bryson’s family who continue to show support for the 22-year-old at every appearance.
Bryson will be arraigned at Adelaide District Court in December – sentencing submissions and victim impact statements will also be heard that day.
William Broadbent
A Naracoorte grandmother was left fearing for her family’s lives during a violent, revenge-fuelled confrontation with local shearer William Joseph Broadbent after he “barged” into her home and assaulted her husband and grandson.
Broadbent, 38, was found guilty by a jury of aggravated criminal trespass, two counts aggravated assault causing harm and a count of aggravated assault over the August 2021 attack.
The Mount Gambier District Court court heard during the April trial Broadbent and an accomplice arrived at a Struan home on the outskirts of Naracoorte looking for a man named Nathan Steel about 9.30pm on August 8, 2021.
The pair were instead met by Mr Steel’s parents and son who told the court the two men made “loud and threatening calls in aggravated voices” before “barging inside” the house demanding to know where Nathan was.
The court heard the pair were looking for Mr Steel to confront him because he allegedly tried to run a friend of theirs off the road a few days earlier.
In a police interview shown during the trial, Broadbent said he told Mr Steel’s son: “you’re Nathan’s son, so you’re going to cop a beating”, before striking him in the face – leaving the teen with a swollen cheek and split lip.
He then grabbed Mr Steel’s father by the throat and threw him into the stove, breaking the glass.
Mr Steel’s mother told the court she “thought (her) family would be killed” during the altercation.
Broadbent was sentenced to two years, three months and 16 days imprisonment with a non-parole period of nine months and 16 days – to be served on home detention. The man initially accused of being his accomplice was acquitted.
Luke Northam
A Mount Gambier man was jailed for more than three years after he exposed himself to a 15-year-old girl in a public toilet while his son sat on the steps outside.
Luke Aaron Northam, 45, pleaded guilty to procuring a child for sexual activity and gross indecency, relating to the incident on November 28, 2023.
During sentencing this year, the District Court heard police observed Northam with a young girl they knew was 15 near Cave Gardens public toilets.
Later, they found Northam’s son sitting on the steps outside the toilets and when they asked where his father was he said he wasn’t there.
Police then searched the toilet and found Northam inside, exposing himself to the victim.
He was arrested and his mobile phone seized.
The court heard Northam had been grooming the young victim in the lead up to the act.
Judge Geraldine Davison said police discovered messages on the seized phone between him and the victim arranging to meet at the toilets “for a sexual purpose”.
“The victim in this matter is particularly vulnerable. She is a child who is under the guardianship of the (state),” Judge Davision said.
“The law seeks to protect young people from being sexually exploited by older more mature people, in particular when they do this for their own prurient purpose.”
She sentenced Northam to three years and eight months jail, with a non-parole period of two years.
The sentence was backdated to November 28.
Mark Walters
A South-East man who stabbed his high school friend over a $50 drug debt, leaving his intestines hanging out of him and blood spurting from his neck, was jailed for nearly a decade for his crime.
Mark John Walters, 49, appeared in the District Court in March where he was sentenced over the violent attack on January 2, 2021.
The court heard Walters stabbed former schoolmate Gavin Thomas Greene with a knife during an altercation over a $50 debt concerning a “scoop” of methamphetamine.
He stood trial in the Mount Gambier District Court in 2023, after pleading not guilty to aggravated causing serious harm with intent to cause serious harm.
A jury found him guilty of the charges after a six-day trial and hours of deliberation.
During sentencing this year, Judge Geraldine Davison said without medical attention it was likely the victim would not have survived.
“(The victim) suffered serious injuries including a laceration to his neck and abdomen,” she said.
“A portion of his bowel was protruding from his abdomen and he required immediate surgery … the surgeons had to remove a portion of it because it had been cut before placing the balance back into his abdomen.”
Judge Davison sentenced Walters to nine years and six months imprisonment with a non-parole period of five years and five months.
The sentence was backdated to July 17, 2023.
John Kakule
Married father of seven, John Kakule, was jailed this year for more than six years after raping a woman in a horrific attack only days after promising he’d never do it again.
A jury found Kakule, 48, guilty of assault with intent to rape and two counts of rape committed against a vulnerable woman he assisted in Mount Gambier by driving her around.
During trial, the court heard Kakule made numerous sexual advances towards the victim – which she refused – and sent her pornographic videos.
He then took her to a secluded area in 2019 and attempted to rape her, with the court told he eventually stopped, telling her he’d never do it again, before driving her home.
Two days later, the court heard Kakule made an advance at the victim while at her home, indecently assaulted her after she tried to run and then raping her twice.
Kakule argued during his trial the first incident did not happen and the rape at his house was consensual.
In her victim impact statement read out by the prosecutor, the victim said Kakule had forced her out of her local community due to the shame she felt following her assault.
“I will always feel shame even though this is not my fault … he took advantage of me,” she said.
“I know in John’s heart he knows what he did – he is too ashamed to speak the truth,”
Judge Michael Durrant sentenced Kakule to six years and two months jail, with a non-parole period of three years and five months. The sentence was backdated to February 27.
Paul Roomes
A homeless man formally pleaded guilty to murder a Mount Gambier man who took him into his own home before the Supreme Court in Adelaide early last month.
In September Paul James Roomes, 65, of no fixed address, appeared in the Supreme Court to enter his pleas before Justice Sandi McDonald, after shocking the Mount Gambier Magistrates Court a month earlier by pleading guilty to the murder of Peter Smith – also 65 – a year earlier.
The court heard that on September 26, 2023, police were called to a block of units in Bond Street around 3pm after reports of a disturbance, and found Mr Smith with serious injuries.
Mr Smith was treated at the scene and taken to hospital, where he died shortly after.
Roomes was arrested and charged with murder.
Neighbours told police Mr Smith had “a heart of gold” and had taken Roomes into his home, because he was homeless.
Roomes remains remanded in custody, awaiting sentencing submissions.
Lachlan Beelitz
A former Domino’s supervisor from Mount Gambier is behind bars after he sexually abused a child, paying her $200 for explicit photos and sex on one occasion, the court heard.
Lachlan Craig Beelitz, 23, was jailed for five years after he preyed on the girl when she was 16.
The court heard Beelitz began Snapchatting the victim and asked her to send him explicit photos in 2022.
He then drove the victim to a carpark and got her to perform a sex act on him.
That happened on at least two more occasions, with Beelitz giving her cash and cigarettes in exchange.
On another occasion he picked her up and the two had sexual intercourse, the court heard.
“During that intercourse you gave your victim your phone for her to take photos of herself partially nude,” Judge Michael Durrant said.
“Later that morning you drove her home and transferred her $200 as an exchange for the sex and photos.”
Beelitz pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse and procuring a child for sexual activity.
The court heard he did not meet the diagnostic criteria for pedophilia but rather his offending was caused by poor insight and poor impulse control in being able to control his sexual urges.
Judge Durrant sentenced Beelitz to five years and four months jail, with a non-parole period of two years and eight months.
Henry Nwaulu
A Mount Gambier man is set to spend nearly a decade behind bars after he used contacts in South Africa and South East Asia to import millions of dollars worth of methamphetamine into Australia.
In June this year, Nigerian national Henry Okechuku Nwaulu was sentenced after importing the illegal drugs hidden inside baby clothes, books and electronics.
He was arrested in February 2022 after his home and mobile phones were searched by Australian Border Force officers and SA Police.
Nwaulu was charged with three counts of importing a marketable quantity of a controlled drug before a District Court found him guilty of the crimes last October.
In sentencing, Judge Michael Durrant said Nwaulu was living with his wife and children in Mount Gambier at the time of his offending and the drugs he imported could have fetched nearly $4m.
The court heard Nwaulu took 25 lengthy videos of himself handling mounds of meth in his Mount Gambier home, as well as demonstrations of how he was smuggling the drugs into the country.
Judge Durrant sentenced Nwaulu to nine years and nine months in prison, with a non-parole period of five years, 10 months and six days.
He will be eligible for release in September 2029.
South-East family sex offender
An 82-year-old man who had been a prominent member of a South-East community will likely die in prison after he was sentenced to 25 years jail for sexually abusing nine children related to him over the course of 30 years.
The elderly man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his victims, was sentenced in the Mount Gambier District Court in March after previously pleading guilty to nine counts of persistent sexual exploitation of a child.
The court heard the man, who was involved in recreational fishing, local football and the community, sexually abused his victims from the late 1980s until 2013.
One of his victims – a female relative he abused from the ages of eight to 15 – was told by the man “no one would believe her because she was a child”, the court heard.
Another victim said they frequently experience “night terrors, panic attacks and carries other emotional scars”.
A third said they struggle emotionally every day with the long-lasting effects of their trauma and constantly wonder how their life could have been different.
They said they regretted “not coming forward sooner”, disturbed that many other children suffered the same fate.
Judge Rauf Soulio told the man his victims “will carry the burden of (his) offending with them for the rest of their lives,” and sentenced him to 25 years in jail with a non-parole period of 20 years – meaning he will likely die in prison.
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