Homicide investigation after man dies in hospital following violent assault

The daughter of a beloved and well-known business owner who was brutally assaulted in his home has urged the public to help police find the people responsible for his death. TRIBUTES

The daughter of a beloved and well-known Gatton business owner who was brutally assaulted in his home has urged the public to help police find the people responsible for his death.

Tributes have started flowing in for Jim Hill, who died after suffering blunt force trauma to his head during the assault in the Hood Street house on Anzac Day between 6 – 7pm.

Mr Hill was able to call emergency services and his daughter Tayla in the moments following the vicious attack.

Police are now treating his death as a homicide, as investigators call for CCTV footage.

The 76-year-old owned the Gatton and Minden Bus Service and was well-known in the town for offering free rides in his 1917 GMC – Australia’s oldest registered bus.

Jim Hill, who was killed after he was violently assaulted in his home in Gatton.

Daughter and business co-owner Tayla Hill said her father was “incredibly generous” to people he cared about and had deep affection for Gatton.

“He was a larger-than-life character — he always had a funny story to tell, he was heavily involved in the transport industry for 50-plus years,” she said.

“As a father, he always made sure we didn’t go without, and towards anyone he cared about he was a generous man.

“He worked and did play hard occasionally and knew how to enjoy himself.

“Anyone who found themselves in trouble, Jim was always the first person you’d call.”

Gatton's Jim Hill with daughter Tayla. Courtesy of Australasian Bus and Coach.

“The police are doing a thorough and fantastic job, we have complete faith in what they’re doing,” she said.

“There’s no motive behind this, it’s completely out of the blue — he was no threat to anybody, he was only going to be in the house for a short term before moving up north.

“He’d only been living there for three weeks — he just wanted to retire up north and go fishing.”

She called on anyone with information to come forward to solve the homicide.

“The more we get this information out, the more we can find out what happened,” Ms Hill said.

A Hood Street home in Gatton has been declared a crime scene after a Jim Hill died from injuries suffered in a Anzac Day assault.

Cecil Sempf, 102, has lived in Hood Street for decades and did not recall hearing a disturbance on Anzac Day.

“I stay on the other side of the house so I don’t hear much,” he said.

“People live their own lives and what happens in their homes is their own business.

“I keep to myself.”

Another neighbour who wished to remain anonymous did not recall a disturbance and was surprised to pull into the street on Tuesday to see it full of unmarked police vehicles.

“There were five cars and all the police were well dressed,” she said.

“They were taking a heap of material out of the property.”

No clear motive for ‘blunt force trauma’ injuries

Gatton and Minden Bus Service owner Jim Hill died in Toowoomba Hospital on May 5 after suffering injuries in an assault at his home on April 25.

Darling Downs Detective Inspector Heath McQueen asked for anyone with CCTV or dashcam footage of the area around Hood Street to provide it to police for review.

“I don’t really want to particularise because someone might then think that something’s not of importance to us when it is,” he said.

“It’s really important that people cast their mind back to their movements on Anzac Day, particularly leading up to 6pm and 7pm that evening, in and around that area.

“You may not have been near Hood Street, but you may have passed a vehicle or a person or persons of interest two streets away.

“We’ll review the footage and we will identify if it is of interest to us or not.

“Gatton isn’t a large area there may be somebody who has information that may not have dashcam footage or CCTV footage but is a local to the area and has information they wish to provide to release please contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.”

Insp McQueen said the offender appeared to have entered via the rear door of the property and assaulted Mr Hill in his home, striking him several times in the head and upper body with a batlike object.

Detective Inspector Heath McQueen addresses media in relation to a homicide investigation after the death of Gatton man Jim Hill, Thursday, May 9, 2024. Picture: Kevin Farmer

“The injuries are consistent with blunt force trauma,” he said.

“I don’t want to speculate if this was a random attack or a targeted attack, a possible motive will be a priority for our investigators to establish.

“The Homicide Investigation Unit is working from Gatton, we have the Darling Downs Tactical Crime Squad was well as detectives from the Gatton CIB already on the ground with forensics officers.

“We will continue to comb through the information provided — police in Gatton do a tremendous job.

“I’m sure that if we continue to stick to our systems and processes we’ll achieve a result and we’ll hold the perpetrator or perpetrators to account.”

Mr Hill was able to call his daughter after the assault and was initially recovering before his health took a turn for the worse.

He declined to comment on what information Mr Hill was able to provide prior to his death.

“Any attack on any person is horrendous, he was an elderly gentleman in his own home,” Insp McQueen said.

“We are working with his family and supporting the family.”

Community ‘baffled’ as tributes flow

Gatton and Minden Bus Service owner Jim Hill, pictured with daughter Tayla, died in Toowoomba Hospital on May 5 after suffering injuries in an assault at his home on April 25.

Jim Hill is being remembered by ex-employees and community leaders as a titan of his industry and a key figure within the town of Gatton.

Former worker Kara Spoor said Mr Hill, who operated companies across the east coast for more than five decades, ran a “tight ship” and was a tough but fair boss.

“He ran a tight ship and sometimes a hard ship, but he looked after good people — he was a smart businessman, I learnt a lot from him,” she said.

“Mr Hill was tough, but at the same token, he was very good to me, he taught me a lot about life.

“He was a good bloke and my mind is baffled by anyone who would want to do that to an old man.

“I’m absolutely devastated for him — to go out like that, for a man of his calibre.”

Along with his 55 years in the transport sector, Mr Hill also had a passion for horses and restoring vintage trucks and buses to their former glories.

“Those old trucks and buses would come into the depot on a tilt tray quite often and they were all rusted and he would get them fixed up,” Ms Spoor said.

“He could see what it was supposed to look like, his vision for them was far greater than ours.”

Lockyer Valley mayor Tanya Milligan described Mr Hill as an “all-round top bloke”, saying she had been left shocked by his death.

“Jim was treasured within the community as an entrepreneur, businessman, and an all-round top bloke and his legacy within the Gatton Bus Service and bus and coach industry in general will live on forever,” she said.

“Jim’s experience, knowledge and passion for the transport industry was instrumental in assisting and advising Council with operations and improvements at the Queensland Transport Museum (QTM) in Gatton, and he was a member of the QTM advisory committee from its opening in 2009 to January 2022, when he decided not to seek re-election.

“His cheeky, dry wit always brought a smile to the QTM team and he will be sadly missed.”

Gatton and Minden Bus Service owner Jim Hill died in Toowoomba Hospital on May 5 after suffering injuries in an assault at his home on April 25.

Lockyer MP Jim McDonald, who had known Mr Hill for more than three decades, called his death a “senseless tragedy”.

“He was a prominent member of the Lockyer region, a successful businessperson, a real character, and an incredibly community-driven person,” he said.

“His name is synonymous with Queensland’s bus and coach industry.

Gatton's Jim Hill in 2020. Courtesy of 7News Toowoomba.

Transport has been in Mr Hill’s family for more than a century, with his daughter Tayla describing the industry as being “in his blood”.

His father, also called Jim, ran bus services in NSW and Mr Hill took up an apprenticeship with the company before completing his final two years in England.

After a falling out with his father and a brief stint in trucking and his own bus company in the 1970s and 1980s, Mr Hill moved up to Queensland in the 1990s and snapped up a number of bus networks in Gatton, Minden, Logan, Beaudesert and the Glasshouse Mountains.

At its height, Mr Hill’s company ran more than 200 buses all over the state — a task that “nearly killed me”.

Tayla Hill said her father was preparing to retire up north when the assault occurred.