Wendie-Sue Dent loses final chance at appeal over David Lawrence murder conviction

The family of David Lawrence has suffered through a decade-long ordeal at the hands of the woman who murdered him. Today, she was finally silenced.

Next year marks the 10th anniversary of David Lawrence’s fatal poisoning – but his loving family have never been able to stop and grieve their loss.

In the near-decade since, Mr Lawrence’s murderer – his former lover, Wendie-Sue Dent – has bedevilled the family with a seemingly endless series of legal hearings, trials and appeal bids.

Throughout, she has falsely attacked their love for one another – and their relationship with David – to bolster her claims of both innocence and entitlement to his $300,000 estate.

On Thursday, by video link from prison, Dent watched stony-faced as her final legal challenge was rejected by the Court of Appeal.

Her long-awaited defeat was heralded with an audible sigh of relief, and then tears and embraces, from the tight-knit Lawrence family, who filled the public gallery.

Wendie-Sue Dent during her 2019 trial. Picture: Sam Wundke

David Lawrence, 63. Source: SA Police

“We’ve never been able to mourn David – we still have his ashes – because there’s always been something coming up,” Mr Lawrence’s brother, Phillip, said outside court.

“There’s never been any rest, we’ve never been able to rest, we’ve wanted to mourn … now, we will.

“Today is one of the positive days … there’s certainly no joy, it doesn’t bring David back, but there is some comfort knowing she (Dent) is going to be in jail for a long time.”

Dent, 66, of Dapto in NSW, has twice been convicted of murdering Mr Lawrence, 63, in 2015 using her medication – including 20, 100mg tablets of morphine.

She also falsified documents, including wills, to cement her hold on Mr Lawrence’s $300,000 estate and repeatedly lied about the manner and cause of his death.

In September 2020, Dent was jailed for life with a non-parole period of 25 years, prompting her to file an appeal.

Five months later, the Court of Appeal ordered a retrial saying jurors may have been “overwhelmed” by the number and nature of the lies Dent told.

In June 2022, and after an eight-month wait for a verdict, Dent was convicted a second time and, three months later, jailed for at least 25 years – again, she filed an appeal.

Mr Lawrence’s brother, Phillip, his sisters, friends and family outside court after Dent’s second sentencing. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Naomi Jellicoe

In a majority decision on Thursday, the Court of Appeal ruled one aspect of Dent’s most recent challenge was arguable, but dismissed it as a reason to overturn her conviction.

Dent, dressed in a red prison-issue tracksuit, showed no visible reaction to the decision.

Outside court, Phillip Lawrence said the entire family was relieved but still coming to terms with the end of their long ordeal.

“We’ve just got to absorb it, take it all in, that’s the next thing for us,” he said.

“Dent now has a long time to reflect on what she has done, who she has hurt and what she has taken away.

“And she has ended up with nothing, which is exactly what she deserves.”