Mossman man found guilty of bow and arrow murder

CRIME

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Cooya Beach man, Dennis Beattie, 38, was murdered in 2018. Image: Supplied.

Mossman man, Joshua James Richards, 30, has been found guilty and sentenced to life in prison for murdering Cooya Beach man, Dennis Beattie, 38, in the Cairns Supreme court today.

Over the course of the trial, which began last week, the court heard that Richards shot the victim, who was known to him, in the heart with a bow and arrow in October 2018 before dumping his body in a ditch on his Killaloe property, south of Mossman.

Crown prosecutor Nathan Crane said Richards had become increasingly agitated about things going missing and suspected Mr Beattie had stolen his GoPro camera and hunting knife.

He then went looking for the items at Mr Beattie’s partner's place but couldn’t find them and left. When the other man got home and heard about it he drove to Richards’ place to confront him on 17 October 2018.

Mossman man, Joshua James Richards, 30, has been found guilty and jailed for life for murdering Cooya Beach man, Dennis Beattie, 38, in the Cairns Supreme court. Image: Karlie Brady.

The pair got into an argument and a witness, Richards' former partner, Rachel Hibberd, said she saw Beattie make a sudden movement before Richards, an experienced archer, shot him with his bow and arrow.

The court heard Richards then tied Beattie’s body to a ute and dragged him into a ditch in a cane field on the property before dumping Beattie’s burnt-out car on the side of the Rex Range.

Beattie was also found with two “chop” wounds to his neck, his body was located nearly a week after he went missing.

Richards had pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to one count of interfering with a corpse and one count of arson before trial proceedings began.

It took the jury four hours of deliberation to find Richards guilty of murder.

When handing down his sentence, Justice James Henry said the killing was not premeditated however leaving his body to decompose in a cane field was "appalling".

“The cover-up, the lies, the mistreatment of the body and so forth were all at odds with someone who would kill accidentally,” he said.

"You were angry with him, you were obsessed, and in that split second moment when he made the decision to lunge at you, the reaction was 'stuff you'."

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