Killer shot 'mate' and dumped body in river

THE "barbaric" acts of a once-trusted friend will continue to haunt one family – despite the "monster" serving life behind bars.

THE "barbaric" acts of a once-trusted friend will continue to haunt one family - despite the "monster" serving life behind bars.

Anthony Charles Oliver, 38, shot his mate Norman Desmond Cheney, 41, in the head while they were in a car at the Somerset Dam.

He shoved Mr Cheney's body, which also had a knife wound to the neck, into a 44-gallon drum at Esk in December, 2010.

Bushwalkers found the barrel in the Caboolture River on February 5, 2011.

Jessina Cheney, 19, was only 16 when her father went missing and was then found in "an horrific and inhumane condition".

"I think my father died suffering. I will never forget what was done to him," she told Brisbane Supreme Court yesterday.

"This barbaric and horrendous act is not only indescribable but, importantly, inexcusable.

"No human being deserves to spend his final moments the way my father did, nor the tampering (that) followed to his corpse."

Prosecutors alleged Oliver killed Mr Cheney so he could continue an affair with Mr Cheney's wife, Trichelle.

A jury took less than an hour on Thursday to reject Oliver's self-defence story.

Justice Margaret Wilson said the murder was a "brutal and cowardly act" before sentencing him to life imprisonment.

She said Oliver's actions affected not only Mr Cheney's family but also his own and "the community at large".

"Even if much of the evidence you gave during the trial about your background is to be accepted, it was no excuse for what you did," she told him.

Mr Cheney's sister Deborah Tosh choked with tears as she read her victim impact statement to the court.

She said visions of what happened to her younger brother would haunt her always.

"How do you erase such a picture from your mind?," she said.

"You simply don't."

Ms Cheney said while her dad was not perfect, he had a heart of gold and was a hero in her eyes.

"He was my best friend, my protector and now my guardian angel," she said.

In previous hearings, Oliver's brother-in-law Peter Harris, who helped put the body into the barrel at his Esk property, was sentenced to five years' jail, suspended after 12 months for being an accessory after the murder.

Oliver's sister Jenny received a two-year suspended jail term for being an accessory after the fact.

Their sentences were suppressed until there was a verdict against Oliver.