Brendan Doolan to be sentenced for Bradley Dixon’s murder

A convicted child sex offender from the NSW south coast was brutally murdered in a grievous assault by someone he once considered a friend. Soon, the perpetrator will learn his fate.

Orange Courthouse. Picture: Dylan Robinson

A man who murdered a convicted child sex offender in a brutal assault in the Central West of NSW will soon learn his fate for the grim event.

A jury previously found Brendan Doolan, now 33, guilty of murdering Bradley Dixon, then 43, in Forbes on January 23, 2021.

Court documents obtained earlier in 2021 stated Dixon had been convicted of a child sex offence in 2008 – and that Doolan was alleged to have called his former friend a “paedophile” before stomping on his head on a footpath.

Dixon – a father and grandfather – had only recently moved to the NSW Central West from Nowra in the Shoalhaven region before his death.

Ahead of his sentencing at the NSW Supreme Court – which will sit in Orange on July 14 – the court heard Doolan retained his friends’, family’s and employer’s support.

Jai and Karlee Dixon with their dad Bradley Dixon (centre).

The court heard Doolan’s criminal record was almost non-existent prior to the shocking murder, with only one violent offence to speak of in 2010.

Doolan’s public defender Nicholas Broadbent also told the court he had a strong work history, his upbringing had been “supported” if not particularly privileged – and the crime was an “aberration”.

Justice Julia Lonergan will give judgment in two weeks.

Dixon’s family attended court to give victim impact statements, in which they described how their much-loved dad, grandfather and son’s death had left them “shattered, heartbroken and numb”.

His mother Wendy gave a statement, which was read out by his sister Loretta Price.

“By no means has he been perfect – no-one is,” Ms Price read out to the court on behalf of her mother.

“He was our wild child, he had a lot of heart and a loving nature.”

Alleged Forbes murder victim Bradley Dixon (right) with his son Jai.

The court also heard the family had cremated Dixon, and his mother Wendy and father Barry’s remains would ultimately rest with him side-by-side in the crematorium.

In a direct address to Doolan through her daughter, Dixon’s mother Wendy said their family would never forgive him.

“You will never get that forgiveness, you need to live with what you did to our son for the rest of your life,” Ms Price said on her mother’s behalf.

Dixon’s children Jai and Karlee Dixon also gave victim impact statements, in which they mourned the years they would never have with their father.

“Not only was he my dad, he was a friend,” Mr Dixon said.

Addressing Doolan, he said: “He was brutally taken from me … I wish you could feel the pain I have to live with each day – unfortunately you don’t.”

Ms Dixon said she grieved that her father never got to walk her down the aisle, lift her veil and kiss her cheek after she got engaged shortly before his death, or meet her future children.

“He was forced to leave this world alone, in fear and in severe pain,” Ms Dixon told the court.

“This has completely destroyed my family.”