Tara Brown murder: ‘I killed her’: Former Bandido bikie Lionel Patea pleads guilty to bashing ex to death
FORMER Bandido bikie Lionel Patea has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the shocking roadside murder of his ex Tara Brown. It follows revelations the brutal attack was recorded in a horror Triple 0 call.
Crime and Court
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FORMER Bandido bikie Lionel Patea has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the shocking Gold Coast roadside murder of his ex Tara Brown.
Triple 0 operators listened helplessly as Ms Brown, 24, was brutally murdered while trapped in her wrecked car by her bikie ex Lionel Patea, 25, a Brisbane Supreme Court has been told.
Former Bandido sergeant-at-arms Patea today pleaded guilty to the September 8, 2015 murder with shocking details of Ms Brown’s final moments emerging.
Scroll down to see live tweets from inside the courtroom
He wore a dark blue suit and sat in the dock glassy-eyed but otherwise emotionless as details of the shocking attack were read out.
Justice Debra Mullins, in handing down the life sentence, said Patea would have to live with his actions forever.
“She (Ms Brown) will not now have the joy of seeing her daughter grow up ... your daughter has been deprived of the love and nurture of her mother.
“You have to live every day of your life knowing you deprived Ms Brown of her life, and your daughter of a mother.”
Scroll down to see live tweets from inside the courtroom
A terrified Ms Brown called Triple 0 and could be heard screaming for help as she was chased and rammed by a pursuing Patea in a black Jeep as they drove through Molendinar on the morning of September 8.
Crown prosecutor Carl Heaton QC told the court Patea phoned his daughter’s childcare centre at 8am to confirm Aria would attend. He then intercepted Ms Brown at 8.35am after she dropped Aria off.
Witnesses saw Patea bashing on the windows of Ms Brown’s car when she had to stop at several intersections and then saw the pair speeding up to 100km/h along Southport-Nerang Road, Ashmore Road and Macquarie Avenue.
A desperate Ms Brown rang Triple 0, screaming ‘he’s going to stab me’ on the recorded call before a crashing sound could be heard when Ms Brown was rammed from behind by Patea and plunged down a 3m embankment outside 83 Macquarie Avenue.
Read tomorrow’s Gold Coast Bulletin for 8-pages of in-depth coverage
“She can be heard screaming for help, screaming that he is going to stab her, yelling out the best she could,” said Mr Heaton.
“Sounds of a crash can then be heard. A short time later she can heard in a very subdued tone, almost moaning, saying ‘help me, help me’.
“She can be heard to say ‘Lionel stop’ and ‘please help me’. Sixteen thumping sounds can be heard, another female (witness Lisa Kennedy) can be heard saying ‘what the f**k are you doing’ to which he replied ‘she’s got my kid’.
Another 13 more thumping sounds could be heard with indistinct screaming as Patea smashed Ms Brown’s face with a 7.8kg fire hydrant metal plate, the court was told.
Then it was silence with only the sound of the Triple 0 operator trying to get a response from her.
Neighbour Jason Butters rushed to the scene and first thought Patea — who was calm — was trying to rescue Ms Brown from the wreck.
He helped Patea break through the windscreen and saw Ms Brown had no significant facial injuries from the crash.
Patea then ‘leant through the windscreen and began striking the victim in the face with the hydrant cover’.
Mr Butters tried to pull Patea away from the car, grabbing him around the neck but he fought him off.
Fellow witness Lisa Kennedy saw Patea put his knee into the chest of Ms Brown and push her down while telling her to ‘shut up’
Mrs Kennedy tried to stop him by jumping on his back and screaming at him but he knocked her off and continued his attack on Ms Brown.
“As he struck Tara Brown, she groaned and kicked out her legs except for the last two strikes which she no longer made any more noise or movements,” said Mr Heaton.
He then got out of the car, left the hydrant cover over Ms Brown’s face and sped off in a council ute.
At 9.25am, he was lapsing in and out of consciousness when he presented himself to Coomera police station with multiple self-inflicted stab wounds, admitted to doing ‘something bad’ and put his hands out to be cuffed.
Ms Brown was rushed to Gold Coast University Hospital where she had ‘non-survivable’ head injuries including multiple facial fractures and a laceration directly on her brain.
The court was told Ms Brown had tried to escape the relationship several times and even took daughter Aria with her to a safe house in the weeks leading up to her murder.
However, Patea took Aria off her about a week earlier and refused to let Ms Brown see her.
It was only when Patea went back to work in Gladstone and left Aria with his aunt Loretta Sheerin — the mother of Ricki-Lee Coulter — that Ms Brown got her daughter back and sought a domestic violence order while staying in a safe house away from the Gold Coast.
Patea tried to track her down but could not find her until the morning of September 8.
Outside court after the sentence, Ms Brown’s mother Natalie Hinton urged other women in domestic violence situations to “seek help”.
“Seek help. Help is out there,” she said.
“Remember Tara when you’re seeking that help.
“Remember the other woman. Don’t become that woman.”
Lionel Patea’s long-term defence lawyer Campbell MacCallum addressed the media outside court today to read a statement on his client’s behalf.
“Today I appear before the court to accept full responsibility for my actions against Tara Brown,” Mr MacCallum said.
“I do so knowing the enormous pain I have caused Tara’s family who loved Tara deeply.
“I do this with the full support of my family who have encouraged my decision to face up to my actions and provide closure to the Brown family.
“I do not wish to cause Tara’s family any further pain nor delay their need for justice.
“I accept without reservation the punishment imposed on me by the justice system. I will also be ultimately judged by God.
“I know Tara will never be forgotten and I will never be forgiven.
“I just hope that I can today stop any further potential pain and suffering for Tara’s family.
“I now live only for my daughter Aria.”
EARLIER: Patea was expected to stand trial in the Brisbane Supreme Court today over the public murder of the 24-year-old, which shocked the Gold Coast almost two years ago..
The 25-year-old was charged with murder in September 2015 after he ran the mother-of-one off the road at Molendinar before beating her to death with a piece of metal as she lay trapped in the wreckage.
Ms Brown had dropped the pair’s daughter Aria at childcare prior to being followed and killed by Patea.
Patea confronted Ms Brown several times on the road before attacking her, punching her car and shouting at her, before he rammed her off the road on Macquarie Ave on the morning of September 8, sending her car crashing down a 3m embankment.
He then bashed her with a heavy piece of metal as she lay trapped in the wreckage.
Ms Brown was rushed to Gold Coast University Hospital but died from head injuries on the evening of September 9.
After the attack, Patea stole a Gold Coast City Council ute that was parked nearby and drove off.
He turned himself into Coomera Police Station with several self-inflicted stab wounds and a collapsed lung and asked to be locked up, about an hour after the incident.
He was originally charged with attempted murder but the charges were upgraded to murder after Ms Brown died.
Patea also pleaded guilty to dangerous operation of a motor vehicle in relation to the incidents that occurred on the morning of September 8, 2015.
Patea has been on remand at Brisbane’s Arthur Gorrie prison at Wacol since being charged with Ms Brown’s murder.
He has been kept in the prison’s detention centre for much of his stay due to long-running battles with prison guards and concerns over his safety in the jail.
In November last year, he pleaded guilty to a hot water attack on another prisoner and was sentenced to a further 18 months behind bars.
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