Cary David McDonald and Luke Darren Arthur found guilty of Nanango home invasion
Drama erupted in a Queensland courtroom after a jury found two Brisbane men guilty of a brutal home invasion that involved a handgun, knuckle dusters and several beatings.
Police & Courts
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Two men accused of a violent home invasion in the South Burnett were found guilty on Tuesday, after a lengthy six-day trial, which a judge said would have been “absolutely terrifying” for the victims.
Cary David McDonald, 36, and Luke Darren Arthur, 30, were found guilty of seven charges at Kingaroy District Court on Tuesday including two counts of burglary while armed and in company, one count of common assault, one count of assault occasioning bodily harm, two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm while armed and in company and one count of armed robbery.
Initially facing 20 charges, the prosecution dropped 13 on the third day of the trial to “streamline the trial,” according to Judge Jennifer Rosengren.
In his opening statement last Tuesday, crown prosecutor Hamish McIntyre said that on June 14, 2019, about 9pm in South Nanango, a violent home invasion occurred involving multiple victims.
“Five men arrived at a property in South Nanango in the dark of night, loaded up in a white Nissan Patrol,” he said.
He said the men were armed with weapons including an object resembling a black handgun, a metal bar, and knuckle dusters.
The court heard the men first approached a caravan on the property where one of the victims was staying.
“(The victim) was dragged out of the caravan and up to the main house,” Mr McIntyre said.
“He was beaten.
“Others in the main house, including his mum, were beaten.
“The men controlled the room and demanded property and money.”
The court was told one victim was hit in the head and knee with a metal bar, and a woman was struck in the leg with the same bar.
He said items in the house were destroyed, and some were stolen during the home invasion.
Mr McIntyre described the case as a “whodunit” and said all circumstantial evidence pointed to McDonald and Arthur.
Other parties have already been convicted of the home invasion including the brother of one of the accused.
During the trial, multiple witnesses including neighbours, police officers and the victims themselves testified.
One of the victims recalled a horrifying moment when what was believed to be a handgun was pointed at their head with one of the offenders warning if they moved “you’ll be shot or have your head stomped”.
One woman, known to the defendants, testified that she heard a conversation implicating both men in the crime.
CCTV images shown to the jury depicted both men at a local petrol station at 8.40pm on the night of the crime, in a car matching the description of the one involved in the crime, which belonged to McDonald, about five minutes from the scene of the home invasion.
The footage also appeared to show movement inside the vehicle.
On the third day of the trial, a witness staying at the neighbouring caravan park testified to seeing a white Nissan Patrol pull up, with a group of five people exiting before returning later to the car and leaving.
On day four of the trial, McDonald, a father-of-four, took the stand in his own defence.
He said he drove to Nanango to drop off his sister-in-law and was back in Brisbane by 11pm.
He denied being involved in the home invasion and said he picked up Arthur, a father of five, and another man who were hitchhiking, before going to the petrol station and dropping them off in Kilcoy.
The court heard both men initially lied to investigators, claiming they didn’t know each other; however, it was later revealed that they were cousins.
In his closing statement, Mr McIntyre said another witness, a woman known to at least one of men, saw men loading weapons into McDonald’s car on the night of the home invasion.
She also identified other men, already convicted of the crime, in the car that night.
Mr McIntyre argued that it was “utterly fanciful” that the two cousins, from Brisbane, happened to bump into each other in Nanango on the same night.
He called McDonald a “self-serving liar.”
Arthur’s barrister, John Cook, argued in his closing statement the two women who testified both had reasons to lie about his client.
He said both of them had “an axe to grind,” including an unpaid debt that had become a point of contention.
Mr Cook pointed out none of the victims gave a description matching Mr Arthur’s appearance, and no one identified him in a photo line-up.
McDonald’s lawyer, Bruce Peters, in his closing statement, suggested the movement inside the car seen in the CCTV footage was merely “a reflection” on the car windows.
He noted the footage showed McDonald wearing thongs and suggested no one involved in a home invasion would wear such footwear.
Mr Peters added no forensic evidence, including fingerprints or DNA, from any of the other men known to have committed the crime was found in McDonald’s car.
On Tuesday, after deliberating for less than two hours, the jury of eight men and two women found both men guilty of all counts.
Both men remained stoic as the verdicts were delivered, though at one moment, McDonald appeared bewildered.
Their partners, who had been present each day of the trial, were inconsolable after the first guilty verdict was announced.
Judge Rosengren made the remark that the home invasion would have been “absolutely terrifying” for the victims.
The two men will be sentenced at Kingaroy District Court on Wednesday.
The pair’s bail was revoked and they were remanded in custody.
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