Jury finds Paul Cohrs guilty of the shooting murder of his mother Bette Cohrs-Schulz

Paul Cohrs’ defence team argued he suffered from a delusional disorder at the time of the shooting but a jury has found him guilty of murdering his 81-year-old mum.

Paul Cohrs has been found guilty of murdering his mother. Picture: Ian Currie

A former deputy mayor has been found guilty of murdering his mother during a cross-border shooting spree after his lawyers failed to convince the jury he should not be held accountable.

After just two hours of deliberations on Monday, the jury found Paul Cohrs, 64, guilty of murdering his mother Bette Cohrs-Schulz, 81, at her Red Cliffs home, south of Mildura, in late 2018.

His defence team argued he suffered from a delusional disorder at the time and that this mental impairment meant he should not be found guilty of the crime.

However the jury found Cohrs guilty of the shooting murder of his mother, which occurred soon after he shot dead his brother, Raymond Cohrs, across the border in NSW following a long-running family business dispute.

The jury in Paul Cohrs’ trial reached their verdict after two hours of deliberation.

Cohrs will return to court in September for a pre-sentencing hearing.

During the trial in the Supreme Court of Victoria, the court was told Cohrs, former deputy mayor of Wentworth Shire, killed his mother and brother after years of fighting over financial matters involving the family’s two roofing businesses, valued at $14m.

He first shot dead his brother, witnessed by real estate agent Michael Fernandez, at his NSW homestead, which was being valued for sale due to debts.

Mr Fernandez was held captive in handcuffs at the property as Cohrs travelled across the border to shoot dead his mother at her home, with her four-year-old great grandson present at the time.

The jury heard in the lead up to the killings, Cohrs suspected his brother had killed their father, who died by suicide in 1984, and was doing things to deliberately sabotage him.

That included snapping the neck of his pet cockatoo and causing mechanical issues with his car.

Evidence was given by two expert psychiatrists with opposing views on Cohrs’ state of mind at the time of the shootings.

Dr Pandurangi argued Cohrs was incapable of comprehending his own actions due to his delusional disorder.

However Dr Sullivan said that while he agreed Cohrs was suffering from a delusional disorder, it did not mean he was unable to reason his actions with a moderate degree of sense and composure.

“I was pretty satisfied that Mr Cohrs had familiarity with guns and he knew very well what he was doing when he discharged that, and that it would potentially hurt someone,” Dr Sullivan said.

The jury had gone out to deliberate at about 1pm, but returned two hours later, by 3pm, where they found Cohrs guilty of murder.

He will return to court for a plea hearing on September 10.