Noosa serious crimes that rocked the holiday hotspot
The idyllic hotspot of Noosa has a darker side with several major crimes gripping the region over the years. Here are some of the crimes that shook the region.
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From underground casino rings to unspeakable horrors inflicted on innocent children there have been several serious crimes which have shaken the foundations of the idyllic holiday hotspot of Noosa.
Here’s a few of the crimes that have captured the attention of residents and holiday-makers alike.
WARNING SOME READERS MAY FIND THIS CONTENT DISTRESSING
Barrie Watts and Valmae Beck – Sian Kingi
The abduction, torture and murder of Noosa schoolgirl Sian Kingi in November 1987 is still remembered as one of the most harrowing crimes on the Sunshine Coast.
The 12-year-old was abducted from a street in Noosaville by Barrie Watts and Valmae Beck, a sadistic couple who had deliberately set out to find a young victim.
An attack that sickened detectives, Watts and Beck lured Sian into their car with a fabricated story about a missing poodle.
They taped her arms and mouth before driving to Tewantin State Forest where she was raped, beaten and strangled to death.
Her body was found a week later.
Both were then arrested in a Gosford, NSW caravan park after the park’s operator recognised their vehicle from a description issued by police.
They were both sentenced to life in prison after giving evidence against each other in the court.
Beck, herself a mother of six, who had also gone by the surname Forte, died in a Townsville prison in May 2008 while Watts is still in jail.
In October this year Watts’ latest parole bid was denied and he remained in the custody of Queensland Corrective Services.
Noosa’s seedy underbelly
In the 1980s a core group of honest cops in the region took it upon themselves to take down a sordid hive of illegal gambling and illicit sex across the region.
A secret casino that was operating out of a number of premises around Noosa and several prostitution rackets were busted in a series of raids across Maroochydore and Noosa.
Exhibits tabled to the Fitzgerald Inquiry into police and government corruption revealed the region‘s seedy underbelly, 30 years after the groundbreaking report was released.
Former Noosa Heads Detective Sergeant and later Queensland Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson recalled their efforts, which resulted in the conviction of underground casino boss Jim Barber.
Mr Atkinson said they‘d received intelligence that the casino had been running out of Marcus Beach, but a Licensing Branch raid of that premises ended with gambling equipment being handed back to Barber, and no conviction recorded.
“That particular exercise in closing it down the first time was a sham,” Mr Atkinson said.
Barber forfeited a cash bail, and that was as far as it went, with Licensing Branch officials struggling to convict due to the antiquated nature of the gaming law which dated back to 1857.
Local cops took matters into their own hands when Mr Atkinson said Barber re-established his casino operation in Sunshine Beach.
Mr Atkinson had learnt of a secret casino operating above a garage and fruit shop in Noosa Junction, which had shifted to a property on Duke St, Sunshine Beach, and operated on Friday nights.
Covert operatives were used regularly to infiltrate the illegal casino on Duke St, and one afternoon on Friday, August 24, 1984, Jim Barber‘s casino was raided once again.
At least 50 people were at the casino, and a police bus from Brisbane, along with dog squad officers, had been brought in for the bust.
Stools, chairs, cards, money and chips were all seized, and Barber was slapped with four charges, including keeping a common gaming house and more.
A roulette table, two blackjack tables and a manille table were also seized, and the gaming equipment was later used to train legal casino operators who went on to work in the Treasury Casino.
Five other people were charged as part of the raid.
Barber pleaded not guilty, and charges of keeping a common gaming house and possession of instruments of gaming were continued against him.
Barber was convicted on both charges in Pomona Magistrates Court on June 17 and 18, 1985, and all equipment was forfeited to the Crown.
He appealed his conviction for keeping a common gaming house, and that appeal, heard at Brisbane District Court on October 30, 1985, was dismissed and the convictions stood.
Rumours circulated that Barber had started up gambling activities again in an old Queenslander called Wallace House, on Eumundi-Noosa Rd at Noosaville.
Mr Atkinson said it was more than just a suspicion, and surveillance was kept up on the property.
A Noosa Arts and Crafts history booklet refers to the rumours, after the property became a rental between 1980 and 1992.
Lesley Larkin
The case of the mysterious and violent death of former Noosa yoga instructor Lesley Larkin in 1984 still remains unsolved.
The Homicide Cold Case Investigation Team’s efforts to solve the 36-year case remain ongoing with investigators following up fresh leads while awaiting the results of DNA testing being carried out in specialist labs in New Zealand.
Ms Larkin, then 31, was discovered by her neighbour in her Noosa Heads unit just after midnight on November 9, 1984.
She was found on her bed in her Kareela Ave unit suffering severe head injuries after being hit with a heavy, blunt object several times.
She tragically died the next day at the Royal Brisbane Hospital but charges were yet to be laid over her murder.
Ms Larkin was last seen alive about 10pm on November 8, 1984, when a friend spoke with her at her unit.
In July, 2021 it was reported that the Homicide Cold Case Investigation Team Detective Senior Sergeant Tara Kentwell said Ms Larkin’s was a case her and the team wanted to wrap up.
Sergeant Kentwell said the team continued to respond to new information as it came in and it remained an open case for the team made up of dedicated forensics, administration and intelligence officers.
“If anyone’s got information please come forward,” Sergeant Kentwell said.
A $250,000 reward was on offer for information which led to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for Ms Larkin’s murder.
An indemnity from prosecution would also be recommended for any accomplice who did not commit the actual crime, who first provided the information.
Anyone with information was urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Kym Spoehr
A brutal attack on a Japanese tourist bushwalking in the picturesque Noosa National Park on Christmas Day was another crime that stunned residents.
Kym Spoehr hit the lone bushwalker over the head with a lump of wood after she stopped to ask him for directions in 2001.
During one night of barbaric violence, the then 49-year old, dragged her to his camp and tied her up to a tree in an illegal bush camp where he then repeatedly raped, tortured and beat her.
Spoehr was sentenced to 14 years’ jail for the horrific attack and released in 2017.
He was returned to custody just 14 months later after he assaulted another offender with a lump of wood in the secure prisoner housing precinct where he was living.
During a review hearing in August 2020 to determine whether he should be released from custody with a supervision order, Brisbane Supreme Court Justice Peter Applegarth heard evidence from two psychiatrists who had treated Spoehr over the years.
Both said that despite the man now taking medication, there was limited data to show what he was capable of if released into the community unsupervised.
However, both medical professionals argued the offence he was at most risk of committing would be “a rape on an adult female”.
Spoehr argued the medication he was now taking had made a “world of difference” and the protracted rape was an “anomaly” in his life because he was suffering from untreated psychosis at the time.
“Psychosis is the underlying cause of what went wrong,” he told the court via video link from Wolston prison.
“My integrity and honesty has always been good.
“I screwed up badly and I paid a big price for it.”
He argued: “I really just want my life back” and that he hoped to focus on inventions and patents if released from custody.
“I’ve paid a high price for having a mental illness that got away from me on that day,” Spoehr told the court.
“I don’t have a criminal mind.”
Now 69, Spoehr, was released back into society on August 12, 2020 under five-year supervision order.
Spoehr’s supervision was set to continue until August 12, 2025.
Katrina Gorrie and Timothy Butler
A duo who lured a holiday-maker from a Noosa hotel and tortured him in a five-hour ordeal copped their punishment in a more recent crime that shook the region.
Timothy Andrew Butler and a co-accused Katrina Patricia Nadine Gorrie befriended a Sydney man at Sofitel Noosa before forcing him into their car, torturing him and forcing him to make withdrawals at an ATM.
Maroochydore District Court heard Ms Gorrie, the mum-of-two and business owner, had known co-offender Mr Butler for only a few days before the ordeal on April 14.
Crown prosecutor Christopher Cook said Mr Butler drove for five minutes before he began swearing, yelling and then punching the man in the head.
“Stop being a pussy,” Gorrie told the tourist as he pleaded for his freedom.
Butler continued to drive around for hours, calling the tourist names and periodically assaulting him.
Gorrie stole the tourist’s wallet and demanded his card pin before Butler withdrew $1000 from the man’s account about 3am.
The pair eventually released the Sydney man around 5.30am – having threatened to kill him if he told police – the man was taken to Noosa Hospital with extensive bruising to his face and body.
Gorrie advertised the involved hatchback for sale on Facebook days after the ordeal before being arrested on the Gold Coast on April 24.
Both faced charges of torture, deprivation of liberty, unlawfully detain/confined, and robbery with violence.
Butler was sentenced in September to six years in jail for torture and will be eligible for parole in May next year.
In February Gorrie pleaded guilty to seven charges including one count of deprivation of liberty and three counts of assault occasioning bodily harm in company.
She had spent 227 days in pre-sentence custody.
Defence barrister Nicholas McGhee said his client had struggled with alcohol abuse since she began binge-drinking as a teenager and most of the offending on her criminal history was alcohol-related.
He said Gorrie had made significant efforts to rehabilitate and sending her back to jail would be detrimental to her new life, counter productive and would not serve the community.
Gorrie was released from court on parole on February 26.
A Queensland Corrective Services spokeswoman confirmed Butler remained in custody.
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