Axe murderer loses appeal to have conviction overturned

A MAN convicted of murdering his wife in the remote Territory outback with an axe and a knife in 2015 has lost his appeal to have the jury’s verdict overturned.

A man convicted of murdering his wife in the remote Territory outback with an axe and a knife in 2015 has lost his appeal to have the jury’s verdict overturned.

A MAN convicted of murdering his wife in the remote Territory outback with an axe and a knife in 2015 has lost his appeal to have the jury’s verdict overturned.

Robert Morton, aged 41 at the time, was found guilty of murder by a jury in May 2017 after beating his wife to death in August 2015 in the Alpurrurulam Community near the Queensland-NT border.

He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison, with a non-parole period of 20 years.

Morton’s lawyer, Stephen Odgers, launched an appeal on his client’s behalf in 2018 on the basis that some of the directions given to jury by trial judge Justice Trevor Riley were “erroneous”.

Mr Odgers told the court Morton was “blind drunk” at the time of the offending and took the axe from his wife and hit her with it thinking it was a stick and did not intend to kill her.

“He never says anything to indicate that he actually turned his mind to what would happen when he hit her,” he said.

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On Monday, Court of Criminal Appeal Justices Peter Barr, Jenny Blokland and Chief Justice Michael Grant handed down their verdict, dismissing the appeal.

“The applicant has not established that the directions given by the learned trial judge were attended by error or gave rise to any miscarriage of justice,” Chief Justice Grant said.

According to the judgement reasons, the prosecution “did not accept that the applicant was intoxicated to any significant extent at the time he killed the deceased.”

“The Crown also pointed to the absurdity of the applicant’s claim in his

police interview that he thought the axe was a stick when he was using it on

the deceased,” the judgement said.

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The judgement stated that the appeal justices were “satisfied” that the trial judge “adequately conveyed to the jury that the ultimate question was whether, in the light of the evidence

of intoxication and all other relevant circumstances, the prosecution had proven beyond reasonable doubt the intent necessary for the crime of murder.”

“Accordingly, leave to appeal is granted and the appeal is dismissed,” the judgement said.