Dramatic scenes after Linda Currie sentenced for killing partner Gabriel Orchard at Labrador

THE distraught sister of a man shot dead by his partner on the Gold Coast has yelled obscenities and told his killer to ‘rot in hell’ before being escorted from the courtroom in dramatic scenes today.

THERE have been emotional scenes in court today after a woman pleaded guilty to shooting dead her partner in Labrador.

Linda Annette Currie, 48, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court of Southport to the manslaughter of Gabriel Orchard on August 22, 2016.

Currie was sentenced to seven years prison and will be eligible for parole on December 21 this year.

Mr Orchard was shot in the chest during a struggle with a gun with Currie in a Labrador unit.

During the sentencing, Mr Orchard’s sister Kim began to yell at Currie.

“(Expletive) scum, you murdered my (expletive),” she yelled.

“I’ll punch you in the head, get the (expletive) out of here.

“Rot in hell.”

Ms Orchard was pulled from court by police.

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Currie, dressed all in black cried and watched with a horrified look on her face while the woman yelled at her.

She pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter.

Crown prosecutor Matthew Hynes said the pair were in a domestically violent relationship and police who arrived at the scene saw Currie cradling Mr Orchard’s body.

Forensic experts search the house. Photo: Regi Varghese

“I should have just taken the beating,” Currie told the officers.

The court heard Mr Orchard had been released from prison just months before he was killed.

The morning of his death he gave Currie a gun to look after while he went to Southport Court for a trespass matter.

He later went looking for her at an Imperial Parade unit where a brief struggle ensured.

Mr Hynes said the pair “danced” around the table while Mr Orchard held on the barrel of the gun.

Police speak with a man at the scene of the shooting. Photo: Regi Varghese

The gun went off, shooting Mr Orchard in the chest killing him almost instantly.

Mr Hynes read an emotional victim impact statement from Mr Orchard’s mother, Kathleen Orchard.

“I don’t know how to get through my days, I find it difficult to be interested in anything,” the statement said.

“I will never understand why this happened, there is not reason to be good enough to kill someone, he was a father, a brother and friend and so much more, everything has changed … I am scared to leave the house and be shot just like Gabe.”

Defence barrister Rob East said: “It’s very clear from the police and ambulance that she was immediately remorseful and did all that she could in rendering assistance.”

Justice David Boddice said he took into account the pair’s relationship.

“I accept that killing occurred in a DV relationship, the deceased had provided you with the gun for safety,” he said.

“Whilst you had a fleeting intention to do grievous bodily harm, your offence is one of manslaughter and not murder, that reduces the seriousness of the offence but it does not detract from the terrible tragedy that you have taken the life of another human being.”

Family and friends of Mr Orchard have denied the pair were in a relationship.

Friends who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told the Gold Coast Bulletin, Currie and Mr Orchard had not been in a relationship for about 18 years.

The group, who left the Southport courthouse in a tight huddle, were all shocked at the length of the sentence.

Currie could be free as early as December 21 this year.

The court had heard earlier the pair were together and multiple police statements showed the pair were in a relationship.

Mr Orchard was described as a loving person who had struggled with an addiction to heroin.