Mother’s ‘nightmare’ after son strangled in NSW prison

The grieving mother of a man strangled to death by his violent cellmate has told a court of the ‘nightmare’ she lives since her son was killed.

The anguished mother of a man strangled to death in a NSW prison has told a court of the “nightmare” she lives every day since her son was killed.

Geoffrey Fardell and Richard Reay became cellmates by coincidence when they were each transferred to Mid North Coast Correctional Centre on the same day, May 31, 2019.

Ten days later Fardell was dead, found cold on the floor of the 4x2m cell by a prison sweeper delivering milk early in the morning of June 11.

Reay, assigned to the bunk above Fardell, had a history of unprovoked violence in and out of custody.

His lengthy rap sheet included family violence offences, throwing hot water at prison guards, and assaulting other inmates over slights ranging from religious differences to the volume of the television to a man “behaving annoyingly”.

The 46-year-old was found guilty of murdering Fardell at a judge-alone trial earlier this year in the NSW Supreme Court.

Reay tried to argue the 52-year-old attacked him first, but his version of events was roundly rejected by Justice Robert Hulme, who said: “To put it in simple terms, I do not believe any of it.”

Fardell was killed at the Mid North Coast Correctional Centre near Kempsey. Picture: Nathan Edwards

At a sentence hearing on Tuesday morning Fardell’s mother, Sandra Deveson, said the last time she visited her son in prison he was happy to see her and eager to hear family updates.

When she left, he told her: “I am OK here mum, don’t worry.”

Ms Deveson said her son’s words left her “quietly reassured” he would be all right.

But then came the awful phone call.

“I instantly happily considered Geoff was placing a call to me,” Ms Deveson told the court.

She said upon learning her son was dead. she threw the phone onto a chair and began to scream and cry uncontrollably, feeling nauseous and as though it could not be real.

“My voice was hoarse for two weeks after,” she said.

She is now haunted by thoughts of her son’s final moments.

“That is now my ongoing nightmare; knowing he suffered and seeing him in my mind lying on the cold floor.”

Ms Deveson said “it was easy loving Geoff” and described his “robust, cheeky way of greeting me in person or on the phone with a ‘darling’ or ‘hello mummy’ with a big smile”.

“Nobody else could replicate that and I miss that.”

She also said her son had faced “unimaginable challenges” in his life.

Reay, who appeared by video link sporting prison greens and with a mullet-style haircut, showed no emotion as Ms Deveson spoke.

His lawyer Angus Webb said his prospects for rehabilitation were “guarded”, while crown prosecutor John Stanhope put it at “poor or bleak”.

Reay will be sentenced on July 28.

Originally published as Mother’s ‘nightmare’ after son strangled in NSW prison