Greg Dufty murder: Lionel Patea jailed until 2048

CONVICTED killer Lionel Patea will be behind bars until 2048 after he was sentenced for the murder of Gold Coast father Greg Dufty. But his co-accused brother will be free in the near future.

CONVICTED killer Lionel Patea will spend at least 30 years behind bars after he was sentenced for his hand in the murder of Gold Coast father Greg Dufty.

Patea, who is already serving a life sentence for the brutal murder of his girlfriend Tara Brown, pleaded guilty to the murder of Mr Dufty in the Supreme Court of Queensland in Brisbane.

The earliest he will be released is May 29, 2048.

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His brother Nelson Patea, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter, was sentenced to eight years in prison.

He will be eligible for parole on January 19 next year.

Nelson Patea has been in custody since May 2016.

Their co-accused Aaron John Crawford, who arranged the bashing of his “best mate” over a drug debt, was sentenced to 10 years prison.

A parole eligibility date was set at 4 November 2023.

Lionel Patea won’t be released from jail for 30 years.

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Crawford also pleaded guilty to interfering with a corpse.

Crawford has been in custody since November 2015.

Crawford and Mr Dufty grew cannabis together on the Gold Coast and Mr Dufty would run the drugs up to Darwin.

When about half of that crop, about $32,000 worth, went missing Crawford called on Pateas and Stockman to question Mr Dufty about its whereabouts.

Pool builder Greg Dufty, 37, was murdered over a $32,000 drug debt.

The court heard after the beating of Mr Dufty, Crawford and Clinton Stockman, who has been sentenced to six years prison, placed his body in a trailer and took it to a remote farm in northern New South Wales.

They then set the body alight, completely destroying the remains.

The pair also destroyed Mr Dufty’s mobile phone.

Mr Dufty’s partner Sharni Mill, who is the mother of his two children, told the Supreme Court of Queensland that she turned to Crawford when Mr Dufty went missing.

“You promised me you would help find him … you looked me in the eye and lied to my face,” she said.

The family of deceased (Greg Dufty), pictured walking out of the Supreme Court, Brisbane 28th of May 2018. July 2015 Greg Dufty was murdered by a group of men in the Gold Coast hinterland. (AAP Image/Josh Woning)

Justice Martin Burns said he did not think Crawford, who organised the attack, was too cowardly to confront Mr Dufty on his own.

“Despite all of the submissions I have not heard one word of regret or remorse expressed on your behalf,” he said.

“That is your enduring shame.”

Mr Burns said the way Crawford had threatened Stockman’s family and the way the body was disposed of was “despicable”.