Bogie shooting: Youngest victim Graham Tighe was father to newborn

A North Queensland farmer has been charged with the execution murders of three members of the same family, including the young father of a three-week-old boy.

A North Queensland farmer has been charged with the execution-style slayings of three neighbours at Bogie, including the father of a three-week-old boy in what police allege was a horrific ending to a bitter boundary dispute.

The Courier-Mail can exclusively reveal the face of the alleged killer, long-time Bowen local Darryl Young, 59, and how his youngest victim had spent just days with his newborn son.

Young has been charged with three counts of murder and one of attempted murder after he allegedly shot respected cattle farmers Mervyn Schwarz, 71, his wife Maree, 59, and her 35-year-old son Graham Tighe.

Police allege the family were gunned down at close range with a rifle at the front gate of Young’s remote property at Bogie, west of Bowen, on Thursday after he invited them to his farm to discuss the dispute.

Mr Tighe’s brother Ross, also a young father, survived the shooting despite being blasted in the stomach, and managed to drive 40km to a neighbouring property in a ute to raise the alarm.

He was flown to Mackay Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery on Thursday night.

A distressed family at the property where it is believed Ross sought help said on Friday that they were “too close” to the people involved to discuss the tragedy.

Graham Tighe and his pregnant partner before their son was born

A cordon set up by police prevented anyone from getting within 10km of the Schwarz property.

Young was arrested on Thursday at his 7740ha Bogie farm adjoining the sprawling Schwarz family cattle property, which they bought last year for $10 million.

He is due to appear in the Proserpine Magistrates Court on Monday, August 8.

The Schwarz family are believed to have moved into the area from Clermont, west of Rockhampton.

Mrs Schwarz’s brother-in-law Greg Austen, a Clermont-based Isaac Regional Council member, said a boundary war over the two farms had been raging for years. He said the previous owners had also been in dispute with Young.

“It (the dispute) has been going on for years, even with the people who were there before them,” Mr Austen said.

“One bloke thought it was put up in the wrong place … it’s just ridiculous.

“You don’t really take much notice of those things and hope they sort themselves out.”

Mr Austen said the family and community were “deeply in shock and all over the place” in the wake of the tragedy.

“Graham just got married and has a little girl and a boy who’s a few weeks old,” Mr Austen said.

“He (the baby) is still in hospital in Brisbane so he’d only seen him a few days.

Accused triple murderer Darryl Young

“Ross has a girl. They’re bush boys.

“They’re both loveable, adoring dads, they just worship the kids.”

Mr Austen said his extended family were “pretty deeply in shock”.

“They’re all a good crew – they’re just a great normal family that you see in the bush,” he said.

“They were into horse riding, rodeo, gymkhana and had a few drinks on the weekend.

“We’re all pretty deeply in shock and all over the place.

“The family are all in different areas and coming from everywhere … I think everybody still can’t quite believe it.

“In this day and age there are that many programs for things like anger management and depression … it’s a wonder how things can still get like this.”

Police locked down an extensive area during a frantic search for the gunman on Thursday, covering a large amount of ground over many hours to find the crime scene.

Detective Inspector Tom Armitt confirmed Young was known to police and would be the only person charged.

Police found the three deceased people at the front gate of Young’s property.

Insp Armitt said it would be alleged that Young had issued an “invitation” to Mr and Mrs Schwarz and the Tighe brothers to discuss the dispute.

“What I can say is that there was an invitation for them to go there and discuss,” he said. “What we do know is that all parties are neighbours, some conversation has occurred between the parties and resulted in a meeting up at the parties’ boundary line earlier that morning when the incident occurred.

Graham Tighe’s parents Maree and Merv Schwarz also perished.

“We understand that there was a conversation the night before that was the reason they met the next morning.”

Insp Armitt said that, with the gunman still at large on Thursday, local police officers had put their lives in grave danger to enter the crime scene while awaiting support from Special Emergency Response Team officers.

“Police had to traverse a large amount of ground before we actually found where the crime scene was,” he said.

“They were in danger of being shot from any distance while approaching the crime scene.”

Young is a longstanding resident of the Bogie area and the family is well known in Central Queensland, having owned properties as far south as the Gladstone region.

Neighbours at a remote property owned by Young outside Bowen said he lived there with his daughter, aged in her 20s.

The property is littered with rusty vehicles and dilapidated farm machinery.

A “legal notice” on a fence warns that entry is by “invitation only” and cautions against trespassing by “men, women, persons and entities including police/government/sheriff/bailiff/process server/council/private investigators/corporations”.

A neighbour said: “Everyone knows Darryl but no one will say anything.”

The 65ha property is one of two listed as owned by Young – the other being the Bogie farm where the shooting happened.

The Bogie property where the alleged triple murder occurred

Originally published as Bogie shooting: Youngest victim Graham Tighe was father to newborn