Andrew John Cobby: Convicted wife-killer found guilty of fraudulent investment scheme

Notorious Gold Coast killer Andrew Cobby, who beat his estranged wife with a hammer before strangling her at her Worongary property in 2017, was also a fraudster and forger, a court has found.

Andrew John Cobby being taken to the Southport Watchhouse to be charged with murder. Photo: 9News Gold Coast

Notorious Gold Coast killer Andrew Cobby, who beat his estranged wife with a hammer before strangling her to death at her Worongary property, was also a fraudster who duped investors, a court has found.

Cobby, 63, who recently lost his appeal against conviction for the 2017 murder of Kym Cobby, 51, was dealt a further blow last month when the Southport Magistrates Court found him guilty of six counts of fraudulently obtaining property, forgery, and uttering.

He had pleaded not guilty to the charges, which stemmed from dealings with a series of investors in 2015–16.

He was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment, which would be subsumed into the life imprisonment sentence imposed by Justice Peter Callaghan after a jury found Cobby guilty of murder in a domestic violence context.

An injured Andrew John Cobby is discovered near the murder scene. Picture: File

Cobby’s fraud hearing previously heard evidence Cobby used aliases and dazzled at least one of his victims, a former housemate of his, by showing off computer displays of trading accounts purportedly showing multimillion-dollar balances and transactions.

Once his victims became suspicious at the lack of cash flowing back to them, Cobby claimed his trading accounts had been frozen by his broker.

He forged a document, supposedly from CMC Markets, in support of his explanation as to why his victims weren’t seeing a return.

Cobby has been behind bars since November 2017.

Murder victim Kym Cobby. Picture: File

His estranged wife Kym, with whom he shared three children, was discovered deceased near her Arthur Payne Ct, Worongary property at about 11.15pm on Sunday, November 12, 2017.

Cobby was found bleeding in a nearby driveway and transported to Gold Coast University Hospital, where he was subsequently charged with murder.

A jury found him guilty of the offence in November 2021.

Justice Peter Callaghan described the crime as “sickening”, particularly as there was “no discernible motive” for the killing.

“She was actually the only support you had in life, in your whole life there was one person who stood by you, and you did these extraordinary things to her,” the judge said.

Cobby appealed the verdict, arguing, among other heads of appeal, well-known issues with Queensland’s forensic DNA-testing lab rendered the verdict against him unsound.

On April 17 this year, the appeal was dismissed.