Man barely blinks at life sentence

HAYDEN Michael Finch got sentenced to life for killing his parents, and barely blinked an eye.

Murray Finch and Leone Musgrove.

HE got sentenced to life for killing his parents, and barely blinked an eye.

Hayden Michael Finch showed no reaction when he was sentenced to life imprisonment yesterday for the murder of his father Murray Finch and step-mother Leone Musgrove.

Finch, age 23, had pleaded not guilty to the October 2006 murders.

The sentence in the Supreme Court in Rockhampton came after the jury retired around 3.30pm Thursday, following eight days of evidence.

During that time the court heard the bodies of Murray and Leonie were found in a mineshaft on their Cawarral property, each with a single gunshot wound to the head.

The court also heard Finch had said his father had gone away for a conference, before their bodies were found.

A police scientific officer told how a backpack in Finch’s room contained a leather wallet with his father’s drivers licence, credit and Medicare cards inside.

Sitting quietly in the gallery before the jury were brought in yesterday, 23-year-old Finch, wearing a grey printed t-shirt and sporting close-cropped hair, sat mostly still.

The 12 jurors were brought in at 2.37pm and by 2.40 they had given their verdict, guilty on both accounts.

While there were tears in the gallery from relatives of the deceased, there was no emotion shown by Finch.

Standing in the gallery, his arms crossed, when asked by Justice Duncan McMeekin if he had anything to say, all Finch could do was shrug his shoulders.

Finch was also on one charge or possessing cannabis, of which he pleaded guilty.

Only a conviction was recorded for that offence.

Summing up, Prosecutor Greg Cummings said Finch, who was 19 at the time of the murders, had difficulties living by himself and his family had extended him a lifeline.

“The prisoner showed no remorse, no mercy.”

“He had the opportunity to co-operate with police, but he did not.”

Justice McMeekin spoke before giving his sentence, describing the acts of Finch as premeditated and calculated.

“The evidence in my view was overwhelming, the motive is unknown,” Justice McMeekin said.

He told the court Finch had been assessed by a psychiatrist and found to be of sound mind.

“You have no remorse.”

He announced a sentence of life imprisonment for each count, with a non-parole period of 20 years.

The family, who declined to talk to media, had plenty of tears and hugs outside the courtroom, obviously relieved with the result.

Originally published as Man barely blinks at life sentence