Benjamin James Nunns jailed for life for murdering Charles Compton in Warwick

A delusional man has been jailed for life after he fatally shot another man in the neck following five hours of smoking ice together in a shed in Warwick.

Benjamin James Nunns has been jailed for life after being convicted of murder.

A murder victim and his wife went to their car to drive to get fast food, but the man who was hosting them at his home and suffering from delusions at the time interpreted this as them trying to lure him away from his home to kill him, a court has heard.

Charles Compton, 38, was fatally shot in the neck as he sat in the driver’s seat, with his wife Karen sitting next to him in the passenger seat in southern Queensland in 2020.

Benjamin James Nunns, 34, was jailed for life in Brisbane Supreme Court on Wednesday after a jury convicted him of murder at the end of a two-week trial in Toowoomba last week.

Charles Compton died after he was shot in the neck while sitting in the driver seat of a Ford utility in Warwick.

The trial heard Nunns invited Mr and Mrs Compton to his Glen Road home in Warwick around 11pm on April 4, 2020. All three spent about five hours in Nunns’ shed smoking ice.

The trial heard an altercation broke out about 4.30am on April 5 and Mr and Mrs Compton went to leave Nunns’ home for fast food, according to Mrs Compton.

During Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, Justice Martin Burns said there was evidence that Nunns was suffering from delusions at the time, partly a symptom of his schizophrenia and also believed to be induced by his use of methamphetamine that night.

“You interpreted it [Mr and Mrs Compton leaving Nunns’ home and going to their car] as an attempt to lure you away from your home and kill you,” Justice Burns said.

Nunns then retrieved a bolt-action rifle from his home.

“You fired at least one shot from the area of your driveway towards the vehicle, you then moved much closer and fired another shot through the windscreen,” Justice Burns said.

“The projectile entered Mr Compton’s front left neck and became embedded in the spine.

“The killing of Mr Compton was a senseless act, it has had severe and lasting impacts on Mrs Compton. She was in the passenger seat beside him when you fired the fatal shot.”

Karen and Charles Compton.

The court heard Nunns took the rifle apart, dumped the pieces and tried to flee, but local residents apprehended him and called police.

Crown Prosecutor Matt LeGrand said Nunns had a criminal history stretching back to 2008 which largely involved drug offences, mostly related to cannabis.

Mr LeGrand said Mrs Compton had given a victim impact statement describing “the ongoing pain and loss of her husband”.

Defence barrister Scott Lynch spoke very briefly, saying Nunns had a relapse in prison in November 2022, but he had otherwise been compliant with his medication.

Justice Burns said there was “only one sentence” he could impose and ordered Nunns be imprisoned for life. Nuns has been in custody ever since his arrest.