Murdered schoolgirl Tiahleigh Palmer’s foster brother admits lying during investigation
A FOSTER brother of murdered schoolgirl Tiahleigh Palmer has been sentenced for lying during the investigation into the 12-year-old’s death.
A FOSTER brother of slain Brisbane schoolgirl Tiahleigh Palmer has admitted lying to police and a corruption watchdog during the investigation into the 12-year-old’s death.
Joshua Thorburn, 21, was sentenced to a total of 15 months in the Beenleigh District Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to one count each of perjury and attempting to pervert the course of justice, with the sentence to be wholly suspended after three months.
The court heard Thorburn, whose father Richard has been charged with Tiahleigh’s murder, twice gave misleading statements to police and lied to a Crime and Corruption Commission hearing investigating the alleged crime.
The court heard Thorburn came home on the night of Tialeigh’s alleged murder to a family meeting where she was discussed.
Thorburn’s lawyers have claimed that while his father did not make a specific threat — he was terrified of what his father would do and that’s why he lied to police on two occasions.
Tiahleigh’s decomposing body was found on the banks of a northern Gold Coast river in November 2015, a week after she was last seen alive.