Penis eating Mandorah murderer dies in custody at RDH, inquest hears

A NOTORIOUS murderer who once bragged of cooking and eating his victim’s penis has died from cancer

David Kevin Loader, 59 was serving a life sentence for murdering 64-year-old George Martin in 2001.

A NOTORIOUS murderer who once bragged of cooking and eating his victim’s penis has died from cancer after being transferred from prison into palliative care at Royal Darwin Hospital.

A Coronial inquest held in Darwin on Tuesday heard David Kevin Loader, 59 — who was serving a life sentence for murdering 64-year-old George Martin in 2001 — was diagnosed with a “very aggressive” metastatic cancer in November and died on January 11.

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In 2002, the NT Supreme Court heard the pair had been drinking heavily at Loader’s campsite at Mandorah before Loader claimed he “blanked out” and woke to find Mr Martin lying face-up in a large fire near his camp.

Loader was arrested at Mount Isa five days later, after police searched his campsite and found human bones among the ash in the fireplace.

He was found guilty by a jury and handed a mandatory sentence of life in prison with a 20-year non-parole period.

During the trial, fellow inmate Daymon Hannila said he thought Loader was joking when he described how he killed his victim.

“(He said) that he hit the person on the head with a rock, cut off his leg, put it in the fire and cooked it,’’ he said.

Hannila said Loader claimed he also cut off the victim’s penis, put it in the fire and cooked it, saying it tasted like chicken.

In ruling Loader’s care and treatment in custody was “appropriate and of a high standard”, Coroner Greg Cavanagh said even in the case of uncontroversial deaths in custody, inquests were mandatory as “a matter of good policy”.

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“When people are in the care of the state, that care needs to be examined from time to time and the reasons are obvious,” he said.

“They’ve got no other rights when they’re in custody, their rights to complain, move, shift, (say) ‘I don’t like it here’ — they haven’t got any of those rights at all.”