‘The cleaner’ Charles Dennis Turnbull sentenced in Sydney after dumping Darcy Schafer-Turner body in Macksville creek

A mum whose only son’s body was stuffed into a cabinet found floating in a Mid-North Coast creek has confronted ‘the cleaner” called in to sanitise a Sydney murder scene.

A mum whose only son’s body was stuffed into a metal cabinet found floating in a Mid-North Coast creek has confronted a criminal dubbed “the cleaner” called in to sanitise a Sydney murder scene.

Darcy Schafer-Turner’s mother Carla Schafer delivered her victim impact statement during the sentencing of Charles Dennis Turnbull in Downing Centre District Court on Friday.

The former Queensland aviation business operator flew to Sydney and disposed of the 22-year-old’s body in the cabinet at Warrell Creek near Macksville in May 2023.

Darcy Schafer-Turner. Picture: Facebook

Turnbull pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact of murder and stealing Mr Schafer-Turner’s car.

“The cleaner” used the vehicle to transport the body from Peakhurst, where he was allegedly murdered by 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.

Ms Schafer told the Sydney court on Friday her son grew up in Cronulla and loved the beach.

She described Mr Schafer-Turner as “funny, kind, caring and independent”.

She spoke of the “horrific and inhumane” way her son died at the age of 22 and told the court Turnbull’s actions “cannot be taken lightly.”

Mr Schafer-Turner’s only sibling, sister Jazmyn Schafer, struggled through tears to deliver her statement.

Queensland man Charles Dennis Turnbull, described as “the cleaner”, is being sentenced after he disposed of the body of Sydney murder victim Darcy Schafer-Turner.

“My body is heavy, my heart is broken and my mind is numb,” she 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.”

Mr Schafer-Turner’s body was found by police, who had been alerted to his disappearance during a drug-related investigation.

Turnbull, 33 at the time, was arrested and applied for bail in Brisbane Magistrates Court last May. A police prosecutor told the court Turnbull was called in as “the cleaner” to sanitise the crime scene.

Turnbull’s Brisbane arrest. Picture: NSW Police

On Friday, Turnbull’s defence lawyer said he was “opportunistically brought into the web of the primary offenders” because of a drug debt he owed.

“It was a debt called in,” the lawyer said.

“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?”

Charles Dennis Turnbull. Picture: Supplied

Turnbull went to the hardware shop on “a couple of occasions”, was paid $20,000 and was offered ownership of the victim’s car. He even bought a boat to help dispose of the body, the court heard.

A Crown prosecutor, reading from a transcript of a police interview, said Turnbull described the task as “just some easy money”.

However, Turnbull questioned the record of the interview and told the court: “I don’t believe I would have described it like that.”

Turnbull also said he was threatened to carry out the crime and given “a proposition for which I had no choice”.

Sentencing is due to resume on December 6.

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