Court throws out Fady Houda’s conviction appeal over car explosion murder plot

Fady Houda denies helping a former prison guard in the attempted murder of her cheating husband. A jury found otherwise. Now, three judges in the state’s highest court have had their say.

Fady Houda pictured with his wife Monique Hayes in 2018. Picture: Peter Rae

One of three friends who helped senior NSW Corrective Services officer Sharon Yarnton in the attempted murder of her adulterous husband has failed to have his conviction overturned on appeal.

Fady Houda, along with his wife Monique Hayes, their friend, Anthony Mouhtaris and Yarnton, each pleaded not guilty to one count of attempting to cause an explosion or fire, or both, with intent to murder.

They all denied having any involvement in a bizarre plot - later determined to have been hatched by Yarnton - to kill her husband Dean by setting fire to his car as he slept inside following a night out in January 2015.

After a lengthy trial in 2019, a jury found all four guilty of the charge.

Houda was sentenced to 11 years and 6 months behind bars, with a non-parole period of 7 years and 10 months, after NSW District Court judge Jane Culver found he and Mouhtaris were responsible for planting petrol and gas bottles in a secluded location on Henry Lawson Drive at Picnic Point, where Yarnton had planned to carry out the gruesome murder.

Monique Hayes (right) with her husband Fady Houda. Picture: Peter Ray

Houda appealed his conviction in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal, with his legal team arguing the jury’s guilty verdict was “unreasonable” given the evidence before the court, and that he should not have been tried jointly with Yarnton.

However, the court dismissed the appeal on Friday, finding the case against him had been “relatively strong”, the jury verdict had been a reasonable one and Houda had not been disadvantage by being tired alongside Yarnton.

Sharon Yarnton pictured at court in 2017. (AAP Image/Paul Miller)

During the 2019 trial, the court heard Yarnton had discovered in September 2014 that her husband, also a Corrective Services officer, was having an affair with a colleague.

The pair made plans to separate, however Yarnton in the meantime told a friend she had a “plan” and later made posts on Facebook which read “what goes around comes around” and “karma will get you”.

During a meeting at Caringbah McDonald’s, Yarnton enlisted Houda, Hayes and Mouhtaris to help carry out the murder plot.

The court heard she organised for herself and Mr Yarnton to have a “last dinner” with close friends at the Merrylands Bowling Club on January 31, 2015 before the impending separation.

Dean Yarnton attends court in 2017 to give evidence in his wife’s attempted murder charge.

Mr Yarnton said he drank between eight and 12 beers that night but suspected he had been drugged at some stage, saying his first beer tasted “very funny” and had a granular substance in it.

He said he passed out in the passenger’s seat as his wife drove the ute towards their Menai home.

He said he woke alone sometime later with the car parked in a secluded area, his feet soaked in petrol and the hissing sound of an LPG gas bottle in the rear seat.

He also saw another vehicle leaving the isolated location and his wife “100 metres down the road”, walking towards the ute.

Hayes and her husband Houda. Pictures Facebook

He said he immediately got out of the car and called triple-0. When he confronted his wife, she claimed she had gone to the toilet in the bush.

Yarnton, Houda and Hayes were arrested two days later, however Mouhtaris wasn’t arrested until July 2018.

Judge Culver found Hayes had acted as a conduit - particularly on the night via texts and messages - between Yarnton and Houda and Mouhtaris, who placed the gas bottles and fuel at the scene.

With time served, Houda will be eligible to apply for parole in October 2024.

Yarnton will be eligible for parole in 2027.