‘He laid into us’: Audio details Andrew Cobby’s lies to police after brutally killing wife Kym

The extent of Andrew Cobby’s ‘self-serving’ lies, which were described by a judge as a ‘remarkable performance’, can now be revealed in audio recordings captured by police just minutes after he brutally killed his estranged wife Kym. LISTEN HERE

The extent of cowardly wife killer Andrew Cobby’s “vile fiction” has been laid bare in police recordings captured the night he violently murdered his wife Kym in what a judge described as a “frightening” and “sickening” attack.

Cobby ambushed his estranged wife Kym, beat her with a hammer, dragged her by the hair when she tried to flee and choked her to death before leaving her bloodied body in the street.

Kym’s injuries were so severe that her brother-in-law who discovered her body near the driveway of her home in November 2017 could not even recognise her after the “frightening” and “sickening” attack.

Cobby has spent four years adamantly denying he was involved in Kym’s death, spinning a tale of deception in which he claimed he and Kym were in fact ambushed by a stranger who was trying to extort him for money, painting himself as an innocent victim.

But the extent of his “self-serving” lies, which were this week described by a judge as a “remarkable performance” and a “vile fiction”, can now be revealed in audio and video recordings captured by police on the night he killed his estranged wife Kym.

Andrew Cobby being taken to Southport Watch house where he was charged with the murder of his wife. Photo: 9News Gold Coast.

LOCATING COBBY

The prosecution in Cobby’s case alleged he had been interrupted while killing his wife, prompting him to leave his borrowed car at the crime scene and flee into bushland surrounding Kym’s Gold Coast Hinterland home.

During a telephone call with a police officer in the hours after Kym’s body is discovered, Cobby claims to be lost and disoriented in the bush, having only just come to after being attacked himself.

“I’m sorry…I should’ve tried to protect her more, but I panicked after we were attacked,” Cobby tells the officer.

The police officer attempts to have Cobby identify his location by asking him which direction he ran, whether he can see any landmarks or lights or hear any noise.

Cobby claims to be injured, saying he believes “something‘s broken”, and he has a sore hip.

“Oh please tell me. How’s Kym. Please tell me,” he asks the officer.

When police eventually locate Cobby in the bushes not far from the crime scene, Cobby claims he had gone to visit Kym because she was scared for her safety, when they were ambushed by a man who came out of the dark.

He says he was hit by “something hard and a fist”, by a male on his face and to the back of the head.

“I should have stayed but I ran,” he says.

Murder victim Kym Cobby.

THE DECEPTION

In sentencing Cobby to life in prison, Justice Peter Callaghan slammed the killer’s attempts to deflect the blame for his crime.

“Your capacity for deception was something which we saw on show both I think when you were speaking to police and staged that remarkable performance, but also here in court when you were shedding tears which I infer were for yourself and not for her,” he said.

Throughout a video recording of Cobby’s ambulance trip from the crime scene to hospital for treatment for minor injuries, inflicted by Kym as she valiantly fought for her life, the killer tells police of his innocence.

He tells a police officer that his estranged wife, whose real name was Gaylene, went by the name Kym but he also used pet names for her including “honey bunny and my darling”.

He tells the officer “we’ve been receiving threats” and that he had gone to see if Kym was okay when “the guy came at us”.

“He got Kym and I turned around and I tried to protect her,” he says.

“And he just laid into us.

“He hit, oh he hit us, he, Kym took the brunt of it. I tried to stop him.”

Cobby describes how he tried to stop the fictitious attacker but “I didn’t have the strength”.

“…I’d laid over Kym, tried to protect her. And I got hit on the back of the head, I think. And I don’t know we’re up and down and, and I panicked and I went down the hill,” he said.

“That’s about as much as I remember.”

Police photos from the Cobby crime scene including the hammer believed to be used to attack Kym Cobby. Photo Supplied by QLD Police.

HOSPITAL RECORDINGS

In an audio recording taken from the hospital where Cobby was taken after killing his wife, he screams and wails after police inform him Kym has died.

“I was supposed to protect her, no, no,” he says.

“I’m sorry Kym, I was supposed to protect her, no, no, you’re wrong.”

“No please tell me it’s not true.”

Through screams and wails, Cobby says Kym is “the love of my life”.

“No please, no help her, I’m a coward I ran, I should have stayed to protect her,” he says.

“No please, it can’t be.”

Cobby was found guilty of Kym’s murder on Monday after a four-week trial in the Brisbane Supreme Court.

Justice Callaghan urged the killer to come clean about his motives for the crime.

“Contemplate how you will be remembered by those you knew, those who may once have loved you,” he said.

“I’m not sure there was much else in your life for which you will actually want to be remembered, but it is still possible that you could do one remarkable thing in your life, and it would be truly remarkable if even now at this point you found it within yourself to simply tell the truth, you can still do that and you will have time to think about whether you will.

“In the meantime you are convicted of the offence of murder, you are sentenced to life imprisonment.”

Originally published as ‘He laid into us’: Audio details Andrew Cobby’s lies to police after brutally killing wife Kym