A farmhand has been found guilty of brutally murdering a neighbouring farmer before stealing his ute and setting fire to it.
Clinton Beau Wrigley, 40, pleaded not guilty to murdering 58-year-old Joel Carter at a rural property in January 2023.
The farmer died of blunt-force trauma after being repeatedly bludgeoned over the head on the night of January 22 and or early the next day, a jury was told.
Wrigley also denied the Crown’s accusations that he stole Carter’s tools and his Toyota Hilux before setting the ute on fire near Nyngan in central NSW.
But today the Supreme Court jury in Dubbo found Wrigley guilty of murder, and the theft and destruction of Carter’s ute and tools.
The verdict came one week after Wrigley told the jury he was “just being a dickhead” when he allegedly confessed to the crimes.
Prosecutors claim he revealed a motive for the murder during a covertly recorded call, in which he said “the main thing that done” Carter was his poor treatment of his sister-in-law.
But that alleged injustice was a “pretty bad reason” for murder, Wrigley told the jury.
His barrister Nicholas Broadbent SC questioned the connection between Wrigley and Carter’s sister-in-law.
Broadbent argued Wrigley’s boss had reasons to be frustrated with Carter, including money owed from a share-farm agreement.
The jury previously heard Wrigley’s boss had disagreements with Carter, including one physical altercation.
Carter’s body was found lying on a metal-framed bed in his lounge room in an advanced state of decomposition two days after he was killed.
A police examination showed the 58-year-old had died with an open head wound, multiple skull fractures and lacerations, the jury was told.
