Crimes that shook the NSW south coast, from bikie executions to animal torture
The south coast is renowned for its quiet, safe and peaceful beach towns but there is a deadly underbelly. These are some of the most chilling crimes to rock the region.
The South Coast News
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While it is rare to see serious crimes committed along the sleepy south coast, when they do happen, they strike at the heart of every resident.
From sickening animal torture to execution-style killings and bodies in barrels - these are the crimes shocked the south coast.
NOWRA CHILD SEX CULT EXPOSED
A paedophile cult leader known as “Little Pebble” started his own “holy land” at Nowra before a child sex scandal shocked the south coast.
William Costellia-Kamm branched off from the Catholic Church in the 1980s to start his own sect at a Nowra property, where he claimed the Holy Virgin Mary appeared to him each and every day in the expanse of bushland.
The self-proclaimed leader of the Order of Saint Charbel and claimed to have half a million followers across the globe.
But in the mid-1990s the shepherd began preying on his own sheep, including children.
The cult leader was sentenced to ten years jail in 2005 for indecent assault and having sex with a minor while in a position of authority.
He was released in 2014 on parole after serving nine years behind bars.
He was swiftly placed on a special court order that included an ankle monitor and orders to leave his holy land at Cambewarra so authorities could keep a close eye on him.
On April 1 this year a court allowed Costellia-Kamm to return to Cambewarra, where his ageing cult still holds him up as a hero. he was to be electronically monitored and controlled to prevent underage girls from coming near him.
However, just days later Corrective Services New South Wales said it had no plans to allow the convicted paedophile to return to live in the region after residents petitioned for him to be barred.
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MURDER SUSPECT DIES
The discovery of 26-year-old Bega woman Marnie-Lee Cave’s naked body under a bridge at Tathra in 2015, shook the small seaside community.
Forensics revealed Ms Cave died from strangulation, before her body was thrown off Handcocks Bridge at Mogareeka. She was found resting on a pylon by two kayaking tourists.
In the weeks after her death, Bega man Bernard Webber took his own life in his carport in the hours after being questioned by detectives over the murder.
In 2019, a Supreme Court jury in Wollongong found Webber’s long-term partner Rosemary Priscilla Mackie, 55, not guilty of the murder after deliberating for three-and-a-half days following a two-week retrial.
The jury found Mr Webber, who the court heard had a sexual interest in Ms Cave, was likely responsible for her death.
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FRIEND STABBED 52 TIMES
In 2018, Luke Jordan Close frantically stabbed his friend Garry Welsh a staggering 52 times in a “frenzy” after a failed search of his home for drugs.
The severity of the attack shook the public, and Close was on bail for domestic violence offences at the time of the murder.
The 34-year-old was found guilty in a judge-alone Supreme Court trial in October last year and sentenced to 21 years behind bars.
The court heard Close was drunk and high on stimulants and an opioid at the time of the murder, and the next day had no memory of his “unplanned and irrational but intentional” attack on his “sick and defenceless” friend who trusted him.
Justice Richard Button said Close was “overwhelmed” with frustration when he couldn’t find drugs during a search of Mr Welsh’s home, flinging a draw onto the ground before violently stabbing him to death.
He said Mr Welsh’s final moments were likely “terrifying and excruciatingly painful”.
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‘COLD-BLOODED’ ANIMAL TORTURE
By the time 18-year-old Nathan Sanger’s car came to a halt it was covered in blood and 21 Eastern grey kangaroos were dead.
The court heard he had been egged on by Ashley Sorenson, 34, to savagely mow down the group of animals after a night of drinking at a local Tura Beach club.
Sorenson at times grabbed the steering wheel of the ute from Sanger in an attempt to hit more animals, the court heard.
Queanbeyan Magistrate Roger Clisdell said the pair had “bloodlust” before the “cold-blooded” killings.
Sorenson was jailed for at least 12 months for the “despicable” act in September 2019 for animal cruelty, including torture.
Sanger pleaded guilty to torture, beat and cause death of an animal, and was handed two years in jail to be served as a community sentence.
He was ordered to complete community service at nearby native animal sanctuary Potoroo Palace.
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PARANOID MOTHER RUNS OVER SON
It was a crime that sent shockwaves through the south coast.
A Batehaven woman with a delusional disorder thought her seven-year-old son was sexually abusing his sister when she mowed him down in her car in 2016.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was found not guilty the following year due to mental illness of using an offensive weapon to commit an indictable offence.
The court heard two psychiatrists found she had untreated schizophrenia, auditory hallucinations and believed she was telepathic when she drove over her son as he walked in Corrigans Beach Reserve.
Amazingly the boy only suffered a broken collarbone.
The court heard the woman menaced the young boy and circled him before striking him twice with her car, before he hid behind a tree and shocked bystanders ran to help him.
The court heard the woman had denied trying to kill her son, and said her intention was to protect her daughter.
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BODIES FOUND BURNING IN BARRELS
In 2008 Kim Leanne Snibson, 38, was sentenced to a maximum 32 years behind bars for masterminding the kidnapping of a couple whose bodies were found burning in barrels on the south coast.
She had pleaded guilty to kidnapping and murdering Nowra horse stud owners Kathryn McKay, 44, and her husband, Gregory Hosa, 56.
Their bodies were found in 44-gallon drums in the Tomerong State Forest, south of Nowra. They had been either strangled or smothered, the court heard.
For detaining Mr Hosa and Ms McKay, Snibson was sentenced to eight years and six months.
For the murders, she received a sentence of 26 years each.
Her co-accused Andrew Wayne Flentjar and Lea-Caton both blamed each other for the killings.
Lea-Caton, who also pleaded guilty to the kidnappings and murders, was jailed for a minimum of 16 and a half years.
Flentjar was sentenced to at least seven years for his role in the kidnapping of the couple.
With no “credible” motive, Snibson remains silent on the true reason for her brutal and premeditated crime.
She will be eligible for parole in 2030.
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BUSHFIRE LOOTING
While the south coast faced its most devastating bushfires on record during the infamous “Black Summer”, Leon Elton, 39, and Kylie Eva Pobjie went on a looting spree.
The pair lost their appeal last year and were sentenced to at least six months behind bars after pleading guilty to two counts of larceny, two counts of break and enter with intent to commit an indictable offence, disposing of stolen goods, and a drug possession charge.
The court heard the pair entered Batemans Bay‘s Betta Home Living store after it was damaged in the bushfire, and stealing more than $20,000 worth of stock.
The court heard the Central Tilba pairs offending may have discouraged people in fire-threatened areas from leaving their properties and seeking safety during future emergencies.
Their offences occurred during a time when thousands were forced to evacuate, hundreds of homes were destroyed and people were trying to preserve their lives, the court heard.
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SOUTH COAST BIKIE EXECUTION
It was a murder that shook the south coast for its sheer brutality.
Last year, former senior member of the Rebels Ulladulla chapter Sami Esko Hamalainen was sentenced for his role in the brutal execution-style killing of father-of-three Johnny Salafia in 2013.
Salafia, 38, was shot three times in the head and chest moments after he opened his Kings point home on June 26.
Hamalainen, 45, pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to murder and recruiting people for a criminal activity.
The court heard he assembled a hit crew, led by then-Sydney Rebels chapter president Robert McCloskey, to intimidate Salafia after they suspected he had been sharing the home addresses of Rebels members, including his own, to a Comanchero nominee.
Hamalainen bought a Subaru Forester with bikie associates and hid it in bushland near Milton, before using the car days later to drive a carload of Rebels armed with a baseball bat and knuckledusters to Salafia’s home, the court heard.
McCloskey was sentenced to 18 months jail for accessory to murder for his role in driving the getaway car, the court was told that an unnamed shooter told the Rebels president that Salafia had opened fire first.
He was released on Christmas Eve after the court decided he had completed his sentence on time served.
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BUSINESSMAN’S SHOCKING CRIMES
He was a prominent member of the Eden community for decades, helping build the tourism industry of the small town, but nobody knew the hideous secrets he was keeping.
When former president of lobby group Port of Eden Marina, and well-known south coast fisherman, Reinhard ‘Fritz’ Drenkhahn, 69, was jailed last year for four years for sexually abusing two 13-year-old boys between 2000 and 2003, it sent shockwaves through the community.
One of his victims, now an adult, told the court in a victim impact statement he met Drenkhahn at the age of 10 and the pair would go fishing together.
He told the court he had attempted suicide after Drenkhahn’s arrest, which came 16 years after the offending began.
Drenkhahn was found guilty of molesting one of the boys at a south coast rental home, and assaulting the other boy, who he tried to wrestle while naked, during a trip to Wagga Wagga.
While he had maintained his innocence, Drenkhahn was found guilty on three charges of aggravated indecent assault of a person under the age of 16, one charge of sexual intercourse with a person aged between 10 and 16, and for possessing an unregistered rifle.
He will be paroled in December this year.
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DAIRY EXECUTIVE CONFESSES TO ABUSING KIDS
When well-known south coast businessman Maurice Van Ryn was arrested in 2014 it sent shockwaves through the south coast community.
The former executive of blue chip dairy processor Bega Cheese, is currently behind bars after being sentenced in 2016 to 18 years in prison for sexually abusing ten boys and girls between the ages of eight and 15 on the south coast of NSW between 2003 and 2014. He will be eligible for parole in 2029.
The court heard Van Ryn used “computer games and alcohol” to gain access to his victims, and had sexual intercourse with one boy in his motel room after taking him to Canberra to watch a game of rugby in the company’s Bruce Stadium corporate box.
During his trial, Van Ryn admitted to having sexual thoughts about children every day throughout his adult life.
He told the court he had struggled since his teenage years with his “urge to touch” children.
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BOMB THREAT SHUTS TOWN DOWN
When Aidan Gomez put a novelty clock duct-taped to a car battery in the Batemans Bay CBD in 2019, the entire town was evacuated and put on high alert.
Gomez, 32, of Batemans Bay, pleaded guilty to one count of leaving or sending an article to create a false belief of danger, and was sentenced to two years‘ jail, but walked out of court after an Intensive Corrections Order was imposed.
The court heard Gomez was trying to “prank” a friend, however Magistrate Doug Dick didn’t believe him, saying he had “heard a lot of fiction” from his defence team.
Gomez was also sentenced for seven breaches of bond, including stalking/intimidating with intention to cause fear, common assault, larceny, custody of a knife in public, and failure to appear. He was sentenced to 12 months in jail for each breach.
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