Arabic version: بدء محاكمة قضية القتل الثلاثي في بوغي بمدينة تاونسفيل

According to ABC News, the trial of Darryl Valroy Young, 63, has begun in the Supreme Court in Townsville. Young pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder over a shooting incident at a Bogie cattle property in north Queensland on August 4, 2022.

Young is accused of murdering Mervyn Schwarz, Maree Schwarz and Graham Tighe by shooting them in the head with a firearm. He is also accused of attempting to murder Ross Tighe during the same incident. A jury of 12 people, comprising six men and six women, was empanelled along with three male reserve jurors.

Crown prosecutor David Nardone told jurors that Ross Tighe would give evidence about being shot alongside his mother, brother and stepfather at the gate of Young’s Shannonvale Station. The prosecution said Graham Tighe had received a call from Young the previous day in which Young allegedly accused him of selling calves that belonged to him and asked the family to attend the property gate the following morning.

The crown case will rely on Ross Tighe’s evidence, police ballistic testing and trail-camera photographs from the gate, the court heard. Nardone said jurors would be asked to infer that cameras usually positioned at the gate had been removed hours before the killings. The trial is expected to run for three weeks and hear from dozens of witnesses.

Defence lawyer Anthony J Kimmins told the jury that Young denied making the alleged call about missing cattle or meeting the family at the Shannonvale Station gate. Kimmins said Young was presumed innocent and that the defence would challenge aspects of the case, including motive and evidence concerning Ross Tighe’s abdominal gunshot wound. He said the neighbouring families had worked collaboratively and had reinstated 8 kilometres of fence line between their properties weeks before the alleged shooting.