Siblings Shaye and Kieahn Kotiau burn family friend Tamara Farrell’s body before leaving it in bushland
A young Altona woman pressured by her violent brother into helping him hide a dead woman’s remains has escaped jail. But her brother wasn’t so lucky.
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A 20-year-old Altona woman has avoided jail after she helped her killer brother hide their friend’s body after a night of heavy drinking turned violent.
Altona’s Kieahn Kotiau, 22, pleaded guilty at the Supreme Court earlier this month to the murder of Tamara Farrell, 31, at her home in February last year.
The Supreme Court heard on May 7 Ms Farrell had invited her long-term family friends Kieahn Kotiau, then aged 19, and her brother Mr Kotiau to a games night at her home on February 16.
The group drank heavily until they went to bed at 6am but, during the night, Kotiau entered Ms Farrell’s room and killed her, Judge James Elliott told the court.
“As your brother was feeling unwell from excessive drinking, Ms Farrell brought him a bucket and three bottles of water,” Justice Elliott said.
“Whilst everyone was asleep, your brother killed Ms Farrell in her room. The exact circumstances in which Tamara Farrell was killed are not known, but your brother has since described the killing as brutal.”
The next day, Kotiau showed Ms Farrell’s body to his sister and told her “we are getting rid of it”, the court heard.
Despite her initial protests, his sister agreed to help after being pressured by her brother, and the pair loaded Ms Farrell’s body into the boot of Kieahn’s car before later burning it in bushland near Nambrok, 300km away from Ballarat.
Justice Elliott said Kieahn did attempt to frustrate her brother’s plans to dispose of Ms Farrell’s body, including by pretending to get lost while driving through Camberwell while looking for a spot to burn and dump the body.
But he said more could have been done to alert police to her brother’s crime.
“On two occasions, your brother’s requests (for help) were accompanied by threatening behaviour, including physical force … he scared you because he has a history of being unpredictable, unreadable and angry, and hitting things when not knowing how to calm himself down,” Justice Elliott said.
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“It is clear your brother led the attempt to conceal Ms Farrell’s body. You did not take part in your brother’s acts, you did not help carry Ms Farrell’s body, you did not take part in the acts that mutilated her body and nor did you help set fire to her body.”
Justice Elliott also noted Kieahn had no criminal history, was clearly remorseful and made a full admission to police after her brother later told his girlfriend and family what he’d done.
He sentenced Kieahn to a 12-month community corrections order and ordered she complete 200 hours of unpaid community work.
Kotiau will return to court on June 1 for a plea hearing.