It was the last time the 18-year-old from Doomadgee would see daylight as a free man for the next two decades.

Ten days earlier – on Saturday, August 15 – George brutally murdered 81-year-old Frederick Mabb and left his wife, Phillis, 71, to die.

She laid on the floor for 36 hours with horrific head injuries and died in hospital five days later.

The force with which the couple were bashed stunned investigators.

This was a random, heinous attack on a defenceless elderly couple.

The community was rocked by how savagely the Mabbs had been killed.

As Mrs Mabb laid on her lounge room floor, life draining away into pools of blood, the crucial hours immediately after the crime were also slipping away.

By the time the Mabbs’ daughter found her mother clinging to life and her dad dead on the floor on the Monday morning, investigators were lagging behind in the race to catch a killer.

As Sgt Harvey stood on the steps of the Pelican Rd home while the Mabbs’ shattered daughter spoke with detectives and paramedics lifted Mrs Mabb from the grisly mess that was her family home in a desperate bid to save her, he knew the response had to be swift if they were to catch the monster in their midst.

A major incident room was established at Mount Isa police station.

About 15 Mount Isa detectives and three homicide detectives were joined by a Brisbane-based scientific officer, a Townsville fingerprint expert and two scenes of crime officers.

It would take forensic officers three days to process the crime scene, which plain-clothed police guarded around the clock.

“We threw every available investigator we had at it,” the now senior sergeant and Townsville district duty officer said.

“You’ve got to really hook in on those first 48 hours.”

On the night of the attack there was a party at the Mabbs’ neighbour’s house and another gathering down the road.

This was good news. There were eyes open at the time.

Breakthrough

As police began the exhaustive task of taking down more than 100 witness statements, they hit a lead.

A home diagonally across from the Mabb residence was burgled on the Saturday night.

The family inside the home was disturbed by someone trying to get in the back door.

As the father chased the young man from his backyard the mother, who had raced out the front, found herself face-to-face with Donald George.

George punched the woman in the face, then hugged her, and ran off up the road back to the party next door to the Mabbs’ house. Investigations into the attempted burglary found fresh branches broken from the limb of a mango tree in the backyard.

It looked like George – who had a history of violence in Doomadgee – was trying to spy through the window on the teenage girls inside the home.

Witnesses named George and when the family identified him from a photo board of possible suspects, investigators felt that they had also found the man responsible for murder.

“We couldn’t just rely on it (statements),” Sen-Sgt Harvey recalled.

George was arrested for the burglary, but was keeping quiet about the murder, having sought legal advice.

A covert police officer was placed in George’s cell, in a bid to garner a confession, but the 18-year-old made no admissions of guilt. He was released on police bail.

Investigators continued running out lines of inquiry, ruling out other possible suspects, all the while closing in on their man.

But they needed more than just circumstantial evidence from witnesses who’d seen him jump a side fence into the Mabbs’ yard the night they were mercilessly killed.

The painstaking work of forensic officers paid off about 10 days later, as the results of DNA testing came back.

George’s criminal behaviour helped bring him undone.

There were 26 DNA hits from the crime scene. Twenty of them were George’s.

His genetic fingerprint was everywhere.

An actual fingerprint found on a power board in Mrs Mabb’s blood strengthened the case.

But it was George’s blood found all through the scene which made for an irrefutable argument.

Police believe a wound George suffered a week earlier, when he cut his leg while kicking in a shop window, had reopened as he kicked Mr Mabb to death.

George’s genetic signature was among Mr Mabb’s blood which had covered the walls of the hallway where George had cut him down as the old man tried to save his wife, who’d already been brutally beaten.

A walking stick, now snapped in half, an aluminium vacuum cleaner pole and a glass candlestick holder were all suspected to have been used to batter the elderly couple to death.

Sen-Sgt Harvey said police suspected Mrs Mabb had come across her pint-sized killer in the lounge room and kitchen as he tried to steal from her handbag.

Savage attack

She was beaten so savagely her false teeth were knocked out and her gums split open so severely she struggled to speak when police tried to interview her as she clung to life in hospital.

She had no memory of what had happened. Mr Mabb had been in bed and heard his wife in trouble.

He made it to the hallway between the bedroom and the loungeroom, but no further.

He was knocked to the floor, kicked to death and struck with a blunt object.

Police suspect Mrs Mabb had also been sexually assaulted.

Sen-Sgt Harvey had been a detective for more than 15 years when the murder happened. Nearly 10 years later he still considered it the “most heinous” offence he had ever investigated.

“It was very callous, very disturbing, in that these two old people, in the twilight of their lives, living a quiet and unassuming life together, were innocently behaving in their normal day-to-day activities at their home and were beaten to death,” he said.

“It was just the viciousness of it.

“He (George) didn’t bat an eyelid (when they arrested him for murder).” Their work wasn’t finished though, despite George being held in custody after his arrest.

Hundreds of hours were spent putting together the brief of evidence, with police prosecutors adamant the work had to be perfect to ensure every piece of forensic evidence was admissible. Sen-Sgt Harvey said it was worth it, as not one piece of forensic evidence was struck out.

“It was a massive help,” he said. “With the blood everywhere, that was the clincher.”

More than 100 witness statements from police and civilians and more than 300 exhibits were carefully put together ahead of the three-day committal hearing.

“It was just a very vicious crime we were looking at,” Sen-Sgt Harvey said.

Three years after Mr and Mrs Mabb were slain, Donald George faced trial.

His defence lawyers argued the investigation hadn’t been thorough enough, as others had nominated themselves as the killer.

But the early work spent ruling out other possible suspects and the overwhelming DNA evidence left little doubt in the minds of the jury, which took just two hours to find George guilty of the murders of Frederick and Phillis Mabb.

Sen-Sgt Harvey said they were confident of a guilty verdict for Mr Mabb’s murder, but the team had been “very happy” to have George also found guilty for Mrs Mabb’s murder.

“It’s probably one of the most satisfying because it was such a horrific crime,” he said.

“I think about it a bit these days.

“It was a terrible tragedy for the Mabbs and their family and friends.”

Such was the severity of the attack one of the jurors came up and shook Sen-Sgt Harvey’s hand after the trial and thanked him for his service to the community.

Sen-Sgt Harvey was recognised with an Assistant Commissioner’s Certificate (Operational) for his commitment to the case.

But he said the award belonged to the team of investigators, forensic officers and prosecutors who worked tirelessly to seek justice, which was served by way of two life sentences and a 20-year non-parole period.

George will be eligible for parole on August 28, 2029. He will be 38 years old.