Man jailed for life over grisly killing of wife, stepdaughter applies for parole
A man convicted of the historic and grisly double murder of his wife and stepdaughter in rural Queensland has made a shock bid for freedom.
A man jailed for life for the grisly double murder of his wife and stepdaughter in rural Queensland has applied for parole.
But Rodney Michael Cherry is likely to face a serious legal hurdle under the state’s strict no body, no parole laws due to the remains of one of his victims having never been found.
In 1997 in Roma, Cherry handed his stepdaughter Deborah Guise a pistol and ordered her to kill her mother, Annette.
Cherry then murdered his other stepdaughter, Kira Guise, in 1999 because he believed she knew of his part in her mother’s death and he had been having a sexual relationship with her before she was 16.
Kira’s remains have still not been located.
Debbie was convicted of Annette Cherry‘s manslaughter
Cherry was convicted of the murders in 2002 and received two life sentences for the horrific killings, with a mandatory minimum parole period of 20 years.
A Queensland Corrective Services spokeswoman on Thursday confirmed Cherry had applied for parole.
His matter will be heard at Brisbane Magistrates Court on Friday.
“The Parole Board’s decision about whether the prisoner has given satisfactory co-operation will be published at a later date,” the spokeswoman said.
Under Queensland law, Cherry is considered a no body, no parole prisoner.
The tough law, introduced in 2017, means parole will not be granted to a prisoner if the Parole Board is not satisfied the prisoner has co-operated satisfactorily in helping locate a victim’s body.
“The board considers that the prisoner’s co-operation in the investigation of the offence to identify the victim’s location before conviction and sentence, or after conviction but before sentence, is relevant to the determination of the question,” a release from the Queensland Parole Board states.
Cherry has consistently appealed his sentence since being sent to jail.
In a 2004 appeal, he claimed that Kira “had simply left him and chosen to disappear” and she was “still alive and uncontactable by her own choice”.