Gympie, Bundaberg, Fraser Coast offenders guilty of killing named - list
WARNING GRAPHIC: Chilling killings in Wide Bay show a dark side of the region following a string of brutal conflict including bad blood lovers and paid-to-kill hard men. Now, some of the area’s worst guilty offenders are named. Full list
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From a hired hit man to a baby killer and even jealous lovers there have been many horrific crimes across the Wide Bay that have left innocent people dead.
Police data reveals 41 murder charges have been laid across the Wide Bay Burnett in the past 11 years.
This was almost two-thirds more than the number of deadly crimes committed in the nine years before that, which was 25.
The Fraser Coast had the highest proportion of charges in the past decade: 19 were laid across the Hervey Bay (11) and Maryborough (eight) police districts.
Seven charges were laid in Bundaberg, and six in Gympie in the past 11 years.
Across the same period there were 32 attempted murder charges laid, three for manslaughter (excluding vehicular), and 38 charges of manslaughter unlawful striking causing death.
These statistics reflect charges, not convictions.
Homicide crimes are considered the most serious in Queensland and carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
These are some of the people across the Wide Bay convicted for causing the deaths of others.
Lindy Yvonne Williams – murder
Lindy Yvonne Williams was found guilty of dumping her de facto partner’s headless torso on the side of a road and setting it alight after a 2018 trial.
Williams, 60, had denied murdering George Gerbic on the Sunshine Coast in September 2013, but admitted dumping and setting fire to his torso at Cedar Pocket, near Gympie.
She claimed she caused his death in self defence during a fight at their home.
This was rejected by a Brisbane Supreme Court jury.
The court heard Williams dismembered Mr Gerbic’s body with a saw, before trying to cover up her actions by telling friends and family he was overseas.
Williams was sentenced to life in prison, as jurors reached their guilty verdict after a two-week trial.
Jason Errol Gerhardt – murder
A former Hervey Bay man was sentenced to life in jail for murdering his ex-partner‘s boyfriend.
At the start of his 2018 Bundaberg Supreme Court trial, Jason Errol Gerhardt, 45, pleaded not guilty to murdering father-of-three Craig Marshall, 44, on August 1, 2015, at Coonarr near Childers.
He changed his plea three days later.
Mr Marshall was the new boyfriend of Kristen Eastley, who split up with Mr Gerhardt in 2012.
He was stabbed by Gerhardt after he caught Mr Marshall and Ms Eastley kissing at her home.
Mr Marshall died from two stab wounds that punctured both his lungs, causing haemorrhaging in one and instantly collapsing the other.
Justice Roslyn Atkinson jailed Gerhardt for life for the murder.
Allyn John Slater – murder
The man who took eight-year-old Bundaberg schoolgirl Trinity Lee Bates from her room in the dead of night, before choking her and drowning her in a drain culvert, was given a life sentence in 2012.
Allyn John Slater, 22, was charged with the child‘s murder after the little girl’s body was found in a drain 100m from her Walker St home in 2010.
Slater entered a plea of guilty during a pre-trial hearing in the Brisbane Supreme Court.
Trinity – known to her family and friends as Trinny – had not been seen since 9.30pm the previous night.
A fingerprint on her bedroom window and on a plastic garden chair nearby led to Slater’s identification.
The court heard Slater, who was 19 at the time, “made full admissions in relation to abducting and strangling the deceased” during a police interview in the days following her death.
Craig Andrew Holzberger – murder
WHEN 24-year-old Tenille Hass‘s lifeless body was discovered in the shower of an Avoca home in March, 2011, her boyfriend of 10 years, Craig Andrew Holzberger, spent hours trying to convince detectives she had died of a drug overdose.
But the stab wounds on her pregnant body, the trails of blood at the scene, the knife in the kitchen and the bottles of drugs and alcohol strewn throughout the house told a different story.
The trial in March ran for six days, with 26 witnesses called, including police investigators, paramedics, health experts, Tenille‘s father Darryl, and eyewitness Mr Green.
He was convicted of murder by a jury.
It took the jury less than half an hour to return a verdict and seal Holzberger‘s fate as a long-term inmate at the Maryborough Correctional Centre.
Robert Paul Long – murder
Convicted Childers Backpacker Hostel murderer and arsonist Robert Paul Long remains behind bars 20 years after his horrific crimes.
The year 2020 marked 20 years since Long lit the fire which tore through the Palace Hostel in Childers, killing 15 backpackers, including two Australians.
After a 19-day trial in 2002, he was found guilty of two counts of murder and one count of arson and sentenced to life in prison.
He was then granted an extension to gather more material for the parole board until January 21, 2021.
His application for parole was unsuccessful.
Derek Bellington Sam – murder
Derek Bellington Sam was sentenced to 15 years in prison in August 2001, for the murder of 16-year-old Jessica Gaudie.
Jessica was never seen or heard from again by her family after she left home to baby-sit three young children for Derek Sam’s estranged de-facto, Mia Summers, who lived at Burnside.
Ms Summers attended a party and late in the evening Sam turned up.
An argument between the pair ensued and Sam left the party.
He later told the police he went to Ms Summers’ house and picked up Jessica to ask her to go into the party and get Ms Summers to come home.
Sam said he dropped Jessica off at the intersection of Bonney and Elizabeth streets, Nambour.
In August 2001 Sam was found guilty of murder in Brisbane Supreme Court.
Michael John Kinsella – murder
A hit man who brutally stabbed a Hervey Bay woman 43 times after being offered $10,000 to do so by her estranged husband has been serving a life sentence since 2004.
Michael John Kinsella was hired by Jim Lester to kill Ingrid Lester in November 2002.
Prosecutor Dan Boyle told a court Kinsella went to Ingrid Lester’s home and stabbed her 43 times.
A court heard phone records indicated Jim Lester had made a series of calls to Kinsella just before the murder.
Kinsella pleaded guilty to murder.
Lester was himself convicted of arranging the murder in 2009.
It was the second time he was convicted of the crime after he initially won an appeal.
Stephen John Armitage, Matthew Leslie Armitage, William Francis Dean – manslaughter
Stephen John Armitage, his son Matthew Leslie Armitage and William Francis Dean used “cruel” means to torture Shaun Barker to death near Gympie in 2013 and were jailed for manslaughter.
The trio were originally convicted for murder but this was downgraded by the Queensland Court of Appeal.
Mr Barker’s charred remains were found in the Toolara Forest near Cooloola Cove.
He died from injuries caused by serious violence while he was kept in a fishing esky.
The three had their original sentences also cut on appeal.
Stephen Armitage was given a new 11-and-a-half year jail term; Matthew Armitage was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years’ imprisonment; and Dean was sentenced to 11-and-a-half years jail.
All had time already served declared.
Under the new sentences, Stephen Armitage will remain behind bars until April 2026, Matthew Armitage until April 2024, and Dean until at least April 2026, when he becomes eligible for parole.
Michael John Humphreys – manslaughter
A father who tortured his newborn daughter until her death – at just 31 days old – had accused the baby’s mother of loving the child “more than him”.
Michael John Humphreys was jailed for nine years after pleading guilty in the Brisbane Supreme Court to the torture and manslaughter of the infant who died at Gympie in September 2012.
Humphreys, who spent more than 1000 days in pre-sentence custody, must serve 80 per cent of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.
He was jailed in 2017.
The court heard the infant was subjected to abuse for virtually her entire short and tortured life.
She suffered injuries including a fracture to the skull, ribs and legs, an underlying brain injury, and lacerations to the liver and pancreas.
Crown prosecutor Dennis Kinsella said, on one occasion, the baby’s mother witnessed Humphreys slap the infant, telling her to “cut that f-----g shit out,” after the newborn stirred during a feed.
Justice Boddice decided against imposing a 10-year term, instead handing down a nine-year sentence and declaring the crime a “serious violence offence”.
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