Leanne Rachel Stewart: A 56-year-old woman has been sentenced for concealing manslaughter of Wellington man Frank Smith

A woman who is already behind bars for a string of drug supply charges knowingly concealed evidence of a manslaughter in the state’s central west. Here’s the latest.

A woman who is already serving time behind bars for a string of drug supply charges has been further sentenced for concealing evidence of an unlawful killing of a beloved Central West tradie.

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this story contains the name and image of a deceased Indigenous person.

Leanne Rachel Stewart has been convicted and sentenced a further five months in prison without parole, commencing from March next year, by Dubbo District Court.

The 56-year-old woman pleaded guilty to concealing the death of Wellington’s Frank Smith in July, after she was initially charged with assisting a murder.

Her partner, Aaron Hegedus, 33, fatally shot Mr Smith in the abdomen with a .22 Ruger rifle before he stumbled into a front yard of Thornton St and taken to hospital on the morning of April 27, 2020.

Hegedus pleaded guilty to manslaughter earlier this year.

Police seized electronics and other items of interest from a home in Wellington after Mr Hegedus was arrested. Picture: NSW Police

Homicide squad detectives arrested Hegedus outside a KFC restaurant in Wellington on October 27, 2021, after an extensive 18-month investigation into the suspicious death.

Hegedus was initially charged with murder before the Crown lessened the charge to manslaughter.

Police arrest Wellington man Aaron Hegedus outside a KFC restaurant on October 27, 2021. Picture: NSW Police

Mr Smith’s daughter Ms Morris delivered a victim impact statement, asking Stewart how she knowingly lied when Mr Smith’s family asked if she knew anything about his death.

“The audacity of you – after what our mother and Frank have done for you – this is how you repay us?” She said.

The court heard Stewart sold prohibited drugs from her Ried St home in Wellington and “banned” the deceased a few days prior to his death after a falling out.

On April 25, Mr Smith attended the offender's home to purchase drugs which caused a heated argument between him and her partner Hegedus.

Frank Smith was fatally shot by Aaron Hegedus on April 27, 2020.

Police claim on the morning of his death, Mr Smith attended the offender’s home for drugs and was confronted by Hegedus who discharged a firearm in the general direction of the deceased.

The single bullet struck Mr Smith in the upper abdomen causing severe damage to his liver.

The offender provided false information to the police in the following days stating she was not in Wellington during the incident.

Before she was arrested in July last year, she lied to the police multiple times of her whereabouts and knowledge of the killing.

Judge Karen Robinson sentenced Stewart to a term of imprisonment of 11 months with a non-parole period of six months commencing from March 12, 2024.

Stewart will be eligible for parole in September 2024.

Hegedus will be sentenced on December 15.