List of Central Qld killers and parole dates revealed
WARNING GRAPHIC: From depraved thugs to heinous serial killers, here is a dark list of murderers from Central Queensland and when some of the offenders could be released on parole.
Rockhampton
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Senseless, brutal and bloody killings may have become more of a rarity in Central Queensland, but these evil acts of violence are still happening.
There have been 68 murder charges, six manslaughter charges and 41 one-punch death charges in Capricornia since 2001.
These statistics reflect police charges, not convictions.
Murder charges have been dropping since 2010, with no more than four laid in Central Queensland since.
Other homicide charges such as manslaughter, unlawful striking causing death, attempted murder, conspiracy to murder, among others, have also been declining with a sharp drop from 2005, although 2010 and 2014 had spikes of seven and eight charges respectively.
Homicide offences are considered the most serious crimes against the person in Queensland and carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Anyone convicted of murder in Queensland must receive a life sentence and as of 2021, the non-parole period is 20 years, 25 years for killing a police officer and 30 years for multiple murders.
DISTRESSING CONTENT: Domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse
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Nigel John Gilliland - Murder
“There is no worse human act nor crime than deliberately killing another person and when a man murders his wife in cold blood it’s unimaginable,” Supreme Court Justice Graeme Crow said when sentencing Gilliland for murdering his wife Karen in Rockhampton in 2020.
Gilliland had previously made threats to kill Karen, saying that their divorce would never make it to the courts.
He stabbed her 26 times, some of which pierced her heart, lungs and a major artery in her neck.
After fleeing the scene, Gilliland slit his wrists and left himself to die in the middle of the road before being arrested by the police, who tended to his wounds.
He pleaded with the cops to shoot him and told a doctor at the Rockhampton Hospital to slit his throat.
“Mr Gilliland, you are a cold and cruel murderer,” Justice Crow said.
Gilliland pleaded guilty and was jailed for life. He will be eligible for parole in mid-2041.
David Samuel Aubrey Ray - Murder
Great-great-grandmother Iris Daphne Temperley was doing housework on Australia Day in 2010 before her neighbour noticed Ray lying in her backyard.
He stole a fire extinguisher from her house and brutally assaulted her with it, causing the 82-year-old woman serious injuries.
Mrs Temperley died at the Royal Brisbane Hospital on February 3, 2010.
Justice Duncan McMeekin, referring to the psychiatrist’s report, said while Ray felt genuine remorse and suffered from a substance abuse problem, there was no psychiatric excuse for the conduct.
Ray pleaded guilty to murder, two counts of rape, one count of break and enter, two counts of burglary and one count of trespass. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Stephen Wayne Robson - Murder
This convicted killer caused a controversy in Rockhampton after he was released on parole during a life sentence for unlawfully killing a young woman.
He strangled and ran over 23-year-old Lara Ashcroft on April 7, 2001.
Robson was released into the Emerald community in 2016 for what is believed to be good behaviour, on the proviso he didn’t go to Rockhampton or the Capricorn Coast for the next five years.
But this decision didn’t sit well with Lara’s family.
They criticised the decision of the Parole Board and lobbied for the government to return him to jail. Their efforts led to him being banished from Central Queensland.
Horace Lorenzo Lyken Jones - Murder
In a fit of rage, this 21-year-old stabbed and murdered his own mother with a samurai sword in Gladstone in 2012.
Describing the incident as the ‘sorriest thing I had to do,’ the Rockhampton Supreme Court heard their family suffered through domestic violence issues.
Jones wrapped his mother Roxanne Gilbert’s body in plastic and took it out to the car after killing her.
He was found guilty and convicted of murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He could be eligible for parole as early as December 2029.
Hayden Michael Finch - 2x Murder
A remorseless killer, Finch murdered both of his parents after they threw him a lifeline after struggling in his early adulthood.
His parents were both found with a single gunshot wound to the head in a Cawarral mineshaft.
A jury found Finch guilty of two counts of murder and he was sentenced to life imprisonment. He also pleaded guilty to possessing marijuana, for which he was convicted but not further punished.
Finch will be eligible for parole in October 2026.
Joseph Garrett Button - 2x Murder
Russell and Kimberly Griffin were murdered when Button lured them into a park so he could strangle them with a rope, throw them off a cliff and toss rocks on their bodies.
It took four years from when the 13 and 9 year old Glenmore State School students were murdered to the end of the court trial.
“I needed to hear the verdict to get some sort of closure,” their brave mother said, who suffered through reliving the tragedy since it happened.
Button was found guilty and convicted of the two murders. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and will be eligible for parole from November 2025.
Grant Westley Meredith - Murder
A 21-year-old apprentice electrician died in one of the worst ways after being raped and murdered by a predator after leaving a nightclub.
Meredith slit Kathryn Daley’s throat in 2008, the first murder in Gladstone in 17 years.
He was convicted of murder, rape and possessing thousands of child exploitation files. He was jailed for life.
Shaun Ross Andrew - Murder, Attempted Murder
In a shocking incident of domestic violence, Andrew murdered his ex-partner Joelean Watson in Gladstone in December 2008.
He estimates he stabbed Joelean in the back and chest seven to 10 times.
This happened the day after they broke up from a six year on-and-off relationship.
Justice McMeekin said Andrew devastated the lives of all those close to Joelean.
Andrew was convicted of murder and attempted murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment, as well as five years jail for the latter.
Levi Michael Hayes - Murder
Hayes murdered his 17-year-old girlfriend Rhian Elsmore and her body was found near where they lived in Canoona.
He slit her throat then held the knife up to his own neck.
There are claims this was part of a murder-suicide pact, but Rhian’s family members have dismissed this.
Hayes was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison and will be eligible for parole in 2029.
Wayne Barry Rankin - Murder
He told his ex-wife Briona Buxton that he’d kill her if she left him and took the kids.
The court heard Rankin had also threatened to send intimate images to her employer to ruin her reputation.
He shot Briona on August 20, 2008 and neighbours heard her screaming.
Rankin pleaded guilty to murder, weapons charges and wounding. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Scott Jobling, Beau Hinschen - Murder
Suzanne Standing was brutally murdered by her ex-partner Jobling, who instructed Hinschen to carry out the killing.
Her body was found early the next morning at Etna Creek and she had been strangled, stabbed and punched.
Justice Kerry Cullinane described it as a ‘chilling case’.
The pair was found guilty of murder and jailed for life.
Steven Turner - 2x Murder
One of his victims, 32-year-old Nicole Lieske was murdered after having consensual sex, where it’s believed she may have died from strangulation, poisoning or breaking of the neck.
Her skeletal remains were found near The Caves.
Turner also murdered 31-year-old Edmund Payne on May 27, 2005 in North Rockhampton.
He shot Edmund in the chest and fled.
Turner was convicted separately of two counts of murder and one of improperly interfering with a corpse and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He will be eligible for parole in July 2023.
Leonard John Fraser - 3x Murder, Manslaughter
Dubbed the ‘Rockhampton Rapist’, Fraser committed some of the most depraved and heinous crimes in Central Queensland’s history.
He abducted and murdered nine-year-old Keyra Steinhardt in 1999 and left her body in long grass at the Rockhampton Racecourse.
Keyra’s death sparked suspicions that Fraser may have committed other murders and later led to them finding out about the deaths of other women.
Fraser was convicted of Keyra’s murder, and later convicted of Beverly Leggo and Sylvia Benedetti’s murders as well as Julie Turner’s manslaughter in 2003. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and died in jail on New Year’s Day, 2007.
He had also served time for previous sex offences, including a rape in Rockhampton.
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