Terence Tiumalu pleads guilty to manslaughter in Supreme Court of Victoria
A mother “will never experience joy or happiness again” after her son was assaulted and left to die in Noble Park in the back of a ute.
South East
Don't miss out on the headlines from South East . Followed categories will be added to My News.
A man has pleaded guilty after a missing Doveton man’s body was found wrapped in a blanket and shoved inside a canoe at a Noble Park property in 2021.
Terence Tiumalu, 31, fronted the Supreme Court on February 21 and pleaded guilty to manslaughter, relating to the death of Brendon Farrell.
Mr Farrell was reported missing from his Doveton home on May 31, 2021. His body was found six weeks later at a Noble Park home, wrapped in a blanket and shoved into a canoe.
The court heard Tiumalu had been asked by his co-accused and Mr Farrell’s housemate, Richard Jackson, to evict Mr Farrell from the Doveton property.
In messages read out to the court by Barrister Robyn Harper, Tiumalu told a witness that he was “going to tell a sh*t c**t he’s being evicted”.
The court heard Tiumalu picked up the witness on the day of the attack, before driving to Mr Farrell’s home in a white Mitsubishi Triton.
The court heard Tiumalu met Mr Farrell in the garden, before going into the house, where they argued before Tiumalu restrained Mr Farrell with his legs and hit him three times in the face.
Ms Harper told the court Tiumalu later met with Jackson outside the house, and told him he’d “done some redecorating”, and that “there was blood everywhere”.
The court heard Tiumalu then put Mr Farrell into the back of the Triton ute, still alive, and left him there for five weeks, where he later died.
The court heard Tiumalu took Mr Farrell’s body to co-accused Robert Haapakoski’s home in Noble Park, where they wrapped him in a blue carpet and put him into a canoe in the backyard.
The court heard evidence that Tiumalu had begun to dig a hole in the same backyard, before police were alerted and later arrested the trio.
Defence counsel John Desmond said Tiumalu was very remorseful for his actions.
“Not a day passes where he does not question his decisions or actions,” he said.
“He wishes he could turn back time.”
Mr Desmond said there had been “no prior agreement to assault or bully the deceased”.
“Assault was not on anyone’s mind,” he said.
“It developed spontaneously.”
The court heard Tiumalu had experienced significant hardship throughout his childhood and “loathed himself”.
“He was targeted for bullying and violence and wouldn't fight back. He grew up in isolation, loathing himself, self-harming weekly until he was 18,” Mr Desmond told the court.
“After he turned 18, he turned to alcohol and drugs.”
At the height of his addiction, the court heard Tiumalu would drink two bottles of Bourbon daily, and use “three or four grams of cocaine” in as many days, before becoming addicted to methamphetamines.
Mr Desmond told the court a psychologist report aligned Tiumalu’s behaviour with symptoms of borderline personality disorder, and said a negative social interaction with Mr Farrell had triggered him to feel ‘socially humiliated’, leading Tiumalu to having an “impaired sense of decision making”.
The court also heard two victim impact statements from Mr Farrell’s mother Valery Hellier (read by Ms Harper), and his sister Simone Hellyer.
“I will ever experience joy or happiness again,” Ms Harper read out.
“I struggle to recall any happy memories. I still can’t understand why this happened, it was all so unnecessary.”
Ms Hellyer told the court her brother was her “mentor, safety net, protector and best friend”.
“I couldn’t give my brother a hug or hold his hand, I was given no time to say goodbye,” she said.
“Any happy milestone I face turns into a sad emotional rollercoaster, because I don’t have my brother here.”
Chief Justice John Champion said he needed time to consider the facts before sentencing Tiumalu.
“I will in due course let the parties know and give plenty of time for people to assemble when the sentence will be passed,” he said.
Tiumalu was remanded to return to court for sentencing at a later date.
Tiumalu’s co-accused were both sentenced in 2022, with Robert Haapakoski pleading guilty to manslaughter by assisting the offender, and Richard Jackson pleading guilty to a downgraded charge of common law assault, after a murder charge was withdrawn.
gemma.scerri@news.com.au
