‘The cleaner’: Charles Dennis Turnbull sentenced in Sydney after dumping body of Darcy Schafer-Turner in Macksville creek
A former aviation business operator dubbed ‘the cleaner’, who disposed of a dead body by stuffing it into a metal cabinet and dumping it in a creek for “some easy money”, has been sentenced.
Mid-North Coast
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A man disposed of a dead body, stuffing it into a metal cabinet and dumping it in a creek on the Mid-North Coast, for “some easy money”, a court has heard.
For $20,000 and an offer to keep the dead man’s car, former Queensland aviation business operator Charles Dennis Turnbull agreed to fly to Sydney and dispose of Darcy Schafer-Turner’s body.
The 22-year-old’s body was found wrapped in plastic with cable ties looping his arms to his belt inside the cabinet at Warrell Creek near Macksville in May 2023.
Turnbull pleaded guilty to being an accessory after fact to manslaughter and stealing Mr Schafer-Turner’s car.
He was sentenced in the Downing Centre District Court on Friday to three years and three months imprisonment with a non-parole period of two years.
Turnbull, dubbed ‘the cleaner’ in a previous court appearance, used Mr Schafer-Turner’s vehicle to transport the body up the coast from Peakhurst, where he was allegedly murdered by co-accused Zachary Richard Fraser in a dispute over drugs between April 27-29.
Fraser has pleaded not guilty to murder and manslaughter and is set to face trial on June 2 next year.
During sentencing on Friday it was heard that Turnbull had once operated two successful businesses but these crumbled along with his marriage during the height of the Covid pandemic and he spiralled into drug addiction.
Turnbull’s defence lawyer previously told the court during a sentencing hearing in November that his client had been “opportunistically brought into the web of the primary offenders” because of a drug debt he owed.
“If he was not feeling the press of debt and befuddled by drugs, would the Charles Turnbull that a lot of people have spoken so well of (in references handed to the court) have found himself wandering around Bunnings, trying to find materials” to help him dispose of the body?,” his lawyer said.
Judge Grant Brady said he was not satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Turnbull had acted purely under duress and noted his initial statement to police where he had described his payment as “just some easy money”.
Judge Brady outlined the extensive planning involved noting it was “not competent” but involved googling refrigerated vans for hire, going to two separate Bunnings outlets to purchase items including the metal cabinet and buying the boat on Facebook Marketplace at Port Macquarie which he drove into the creek to dump the body.
At one point the cabinet floated in the water as the plastic used to wrap the body had an air pocket which Turnbull deflated with a knife, Judge Brady told the court.
Schafer-Turner’s mother gave a victim impact statement in November outlining the “horrific and inhumane” way her only son died while his only sibling, sister Jazmyn Schafer, struggled through tears to deliver her statement.
“My body is heavy, my heart is broken and my mind is numb,” Ms Schafer said.
“I am riddled with anxiety and struggle to sleep. For you (Turnbull) it is a sentence, but for my family it is a lifetime of pain.”
With time already served, Turnbull will be eligible for parole on May 16, 2025.
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