Man granted retrial, conviction set aside over fatal Qld robbery bashing

A court has heard why a man who was jailed for life for beating a drug dealer to death could have been acting in self defence.

A man jailed over the death of a Gold Coast drug dealer has been granted a retrial by Queensland’s Court of Appeal.

Mark Vincent Dayney had his murder conviction set aside by the court on Tuesday over the death of Coomera man Mark “Zeb” Spencer in October 2014.

He was serving a life sentence for Mr Spencer’s murder, whose bloodied and beaten body was found on the veranda of his Foxwell Rd home.

Mark Vincent Dayney had his murder conviction set aside and was granted a retrial by the Queensland Court of Appeal on Tuesday. Photo: Kit Wise

A jury found Dayney had killed Mr Spencer during a home robbery with his partner, Peta Lorang-Goubran.

The prosecution alleged the pair arranged for Ms Lorang-Goubran to distract Mr Spencer while Dayney, then 27, would steal his drugs.

It was alleged the plan went askew when Dayney, dressed in black like a burglar and wearing a mask, confronted Mr Spencer in his house.

Police allege during the scuffle, Dayney attacked Mr Spencer with a baseball bat and wooden tennis racquet.

The court was told the force of the blows were so severe the bat snapped in two and the head of the tennis racquet broke.

A pathologist found a blow across Mr Spencer’s face killed him, rendering him unconscious and fracturing bones that obstructed his airway, stopping his breath.

Dayney is led away by police in 2014. Picture: Kit Wise

Dayney was jailed for life over the killing.

Ms Lorang-Goubran was jailed for seven years for her role in the incident.

He gave evidence that he saw Mr Spencer take a small silver gun from between his legs while he was on the couch with Ms Lorang-Goubran and he “immediately jumped forward and punched Mr Spencer”.

He claimed he was attempting to stop Mr Spencer from killing him with the weapon.

Dayney’s legal team argued the judge erred in not leaving an option of self-defence up to the jury.

“It follows that there has been a miscarriage of justice because the jury may have convicted the appellant on the basis that, although he was not the first to use lethal force, his failure to attempt to retreat immediately upon being confronted by Mr Spencer’s pistol denied him the right to save his own life,” the Court of Appeal ruled.