Queensland father found guilty of manslaughter after home-brew tragedy
A QUEENSLAND father who accidentally poisoned his son and his friends with home-brew has been found guilty of manslaughter.
A QUEENSLAND father has been found guilty of the manslaughter of his son and two friends after a home-brew tragedy in 2013.
A jury took less than half a day to find William Neil Clarence Lynam, 71, guilty of three counts of manslaughter and one of grievous bodily harm in Toowoomba on Tuesday.
Lynam pleaded not guilty to the charges at the beginning of his trial earlier this month.
However, the jury found he had accidentally poisoned his 21-year-old son, Joel, along with his friends Vincent Summers, 21, and Bryan Wilmot, 30, when he supplied them with the homemade liquor in June 2013.
Lynam was also convicted of a fourth charge of grievous bodily harm after his other son Joshua suffered partial blindness as a result of drinking the concoction.
The Queensland father was charged in late 2013 following Joel’s death in June of that year.
Lynam was unable to revive the 21-year-old after he drank the homemade liquor at the family home at Ballandean, near Stanthorpe, in southern Queensland.
The group consumed the same batch of home-brew during a birthday celebration on the property.
Joel and his friends died of methanol poisoning.
Lynam is expected to be sentenced on Wednesday.