‘Get on your knees’: Final words before dad kills daughter’s fiancee

A army veteran vowed to kill his daughter’s fiancee just two days before executing him in cold blood, a court has heard.

A father told his daughter’s fiancee to “get on your knees” and “confess” before executing him in cold blood, a court has heard.

Damien Conlon, 38, was just months away from marrying his partner Linda Simon when he was “lured” into his future father-in-law’s house in Oberon in regional NSW in February 2023.

Army veteran Luke Samouel Simon, 60, told Mr Conlon to get on his knees and said “bye-bye Damien” as he shot him in the head.

Mr Simon faced the NSW Supreme Court on Monday ahead of his sentencing, which has now been set down in April.

The court heard how Mr Simon had vowed to “kill” Mr Conlon just two days before the incident.

The couple met on a dating app in 2019. Picture: GoFundMe

The couple shared two children with Mr Conlon a ‘loving stepfather’ to Ms Simon’s two other boys. Picture: GoFundMe

Footage was also played to the court of Mr Simon visiting his gun safe multiple times in the day leading up to the offence.

The crown prosecutor told the court the footage showed he had an “enduring intent” to murder.

However, Judge Sarah McNaughton said the CCTV footage was “complicated and partly problematic evidence” as it was unclear whether Mr Simon was taking the pistol or just the pistol cover out of the safe during his visits.

Mr Simon has pleaded guilty to the murder.

Daughter asks judge to jail father

In a victim statement to the court, Ms Simon said her father had it out for Mr Conlon and could not face him “’like a man and have a conversation with him like a human being”.

The couple shared two children, with Mr Conlon also stepfather to two boys from Ms Simon’s previous relationship.

In the statement, Ms Simon labelled her father’s actions as “senseless and violent”.

The father was killed during the incident. Picture: Facebook

The couple were just months away from tying the knot. Picture: Facebook

“Luke, I believe you are a coward,” she wrote.

“You only had one intention in mind when you lured him into your home and that was that Damien would not be alive after he entered your house.”

She said Mr Conlon’s injuries from the shooting were so catastrophic, the family was unable to have an open-casket funeral.

She urged the judge to “give us peace of mind that we do not have to live in fear of Luke walking the streets and having to see him.”

Wedding plans dashed

The pair met on a dating app in 2019 after Mr Conlon moved to Australia from Ireland in 2011.

In an interview with the Irish Mirror, Ms Simon shared how the pair were set to get married at the end of 2023.

Damian moved from his home town in Sligo, Ireland, to Bathurst. Picture: Facebook

Mr Conlon has been described as a loving father and brother. Picture: GoFundMe

“We had deposits paid on the venue, the church and everything, but unfortunately that will never be,” she said.

“That is the hardest part, all the plans we had for the future and watching our children growing up without him. We just take it day by day now, that is all we can do.”

Ms Simon said one of her sons “still walks around the house looking for him”.

“There’s memories of happiness and joy when we remember the good times, but then it just hits you that that’s all gone now,” she said.

Mr Simon will appear in court for sentencing on April 3.

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Originally published as ‘Get on your knees’: Final words before dad kills daughter’s fiancee