Andrew John Cobby loses appeal over wife’s driveway murder

A man found guilty of bludgeoning his wife to death in her driveway used the failings of Queensland’s DNA lab to appeal his murder conviction.

Andrew Cobby was found guilty of killing his wife in the driveway of her home in 2017.

A man who savagely killed his wife in a violent hammer attack in the driveway of her Gold Coast home has lost his appeal.

Andrew John Cobby was found guilty of the brutal murder of his estranged wife Kym Cobby, who was hit with a hammer and choked in the driveway of her home in 2017.

Cobby claimed that the pair had been set upon by a stranger in a random attack and that he fled into the bushes to hide while she was killed.

But a jury found him guilty of the sickening murder and he was sentenced to life imprisonment in November 2021.

Kym Cobby died at the hands of her estranged husband Andrew John Cobby.

Cobby, who long maintained his innocence claiming an unknown man appeared out of the bushes and attacked Kym in front of him, prompting him to flee, launched an appeal in part relying on the failings of Queensland’s DNA lab revealed in an inquiry headed by former President of the Queensland Court of Appeal Walter Sofronoff KC.

Cobby claimed fresh DNA testing prompted by the inquiry armed him with exculpatory evidence which should see his conviction quashed.

He claimed the results from retesting show the hammer contained the DNA of a person “whose identity remains unknown to this day”.

But in a judgment on Thursday the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal.

More to come

Originally published as Andrew John Cobby loses appeal over wife’s driveway murder