Lionel Patea jailed for life for murder of Greg Dufty

TARA Brown’s heartless killer will remain behind bars for the next 30 years after confessing to the slaying of a Gold Coast man several months before Queensland’s most shocking domestic violence murder.

TARA Brown’s heartless killer will remain behind bars for the next 30 years after confessing to the slaying of a Gold Coast man several months before Queensland’s most shocking domestic violence murder.

Lionel Patea yesterday pleaded guilty to the murder of father of two Greg Dufty, who was beaten to death in July 2015, two months before the 26-year-old killed his former partner as she lay trapped in her car after being run off the road.

The Brisbane Supreme Court today ordered the convicted killer serve a second life sentence for Mr Dufty’s murder, in addition to the life term for Ms Brown’s death.

Queensland parole laws mean Patea will be eligible to apply for parole 30 years from today, in 2048.

During sentencing, Justice Martin Burns described Patea’s actions taking two lives as “abhorrent to any human being”.

“You will forever be marked by what you have done,” he said.

Patea’s brother Nelson Patea and another man, Aaron Crawford, who claimed to be Mr Dufty’s best friend, pleaded guilty to the man’s manslaughter.

Victim Greg Dufty

Lionel Patea with Tara Brown

Crawford also confessed to helping to dispose of Mr Dufty’s body in July 2015.

He was sentenced to 10 years’ jail for the manslaughter and will be eligible for parole in 2023.

Nelson Patea was ordered to serve eight years’ jail but will be eligible for release next year.

Two other men, Clinton Stockman and Liam Bliss have already been sentenced after pleading guilty to Mr Dufty’s death in February.

There were emotional scenes in the courtroom today, when the 37-year-old’s partner Sharni Mill told the court Crawford had lied to her, saying he would “help find Greg” despite planning the killing.

Reading her emotive victim impact statement from the witness box, she told the men in the dock her daughter woke at night screaming for her slain father.

“I wanted to tape it so you could hear what you’ve done to our daughter,” she said.

“Her little voice shakes when she tells people her daddy is dead. She is only four years old.

“Six against one, I can’t bear to imagine his last moments. It’s the fear, did you get what you wanted or will you try to take more from us?

“Aaron … Greg told me if I ever needed help to call you, and I did, and you promised me you’d help me find him knowing he’d never be found.

Family and friends of murder victim Greg Dufty outside Brisbane Supreme Court. Picture: Darren England/AAP

“You walked into my house and looked me in the eye knowing you’d killed him.

“You hugged me with the same hands you used to kill the man I loved just days earlier.

“You told me it would be OK, knowing it would never be OK again.”

Mr Dufty’s family and the Patea family cried as the statement was read to the court.

Justice Burns said it was to Crawford’s “enduring shame” that he had not shown any remorse for killing the man he described as his “best mate”.

“You dealt with Mr Dufty and his body in the most despicable way,” he said.

Nelson Patea penned an apology letter to the court, saying he never meant for Mr Dufty to die.

The court heard the group bashed Mr Dufty to death after finding out he had stolen about $17,000 worth of cannabis from a northern NSW drug cop they had been running.

Crown prosecutor Glen Cash QC told the court Mr Dufty had taken the stolen drugs to another man in Cairns, named Reece Price, who told Crawford an amount of cannabis plants had been stolen.

“Conversations between Price and Crawford included that he (Mr Dufty) ‘needed a beating’,” he said.

Mr Cash said the group lured Mr Dufty to a secluded Gold Coast locale and Lionel Patea explained: “I might have to smoke this c*** so just watch over me …”

Lionel Patea

“The deceased man (was) greeting some of the men,” Mr Cash said.

“While this is taking place Lionel struck the deceased the head with an object.”

The court heard Mr Dufty was hit in the head with a shifting spanner before being kicked by the group and bashed in the legs with spanners while unconscious.

“Patea held a bright green kitchen knife to his throat during the assault,” Mr Cash said.

During the assault, Crawford said: “Bite the f****** hand that feeds you” and when told to stop the attack said: “Mind your own f****** business”.

After the beating, Mr Dufty was handcuffed with zip ties and thrown into the back of a vehicle and taken to a truck yard, the court was told.

“The inference seems to be that he was already quite grievously injured at that point,” Mr Cash said.

The court was told Mr Dufty was then kicked out of the vehicle and had water thrown on his face before Stockman said: “Wake up you dog, I’ve got a lot of torture in store for you.”

“Crawford employed Stockman, threatening so he complied to dispose of the body,” Mr Cash said.

Mr Dufty’s remains were burned at the location of the cannabis crop in northern NSW.

A fifth man, Ethan Clarke is yet to be committed to stand trial on the charges.