A SUPREME Court judge has found an elderly farmer deliberately hunted down and killed Glen Turner in revenge for prosecuting him for illegal land clearing.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Justice Peter Johnson said years of frustration at persecutions by the Office of Environment and Heritage had been a catalyst for Ian Robert Turnbull to gun down the Tamworth-based compliance officer near Moree in 2014.
But he rejected submissions that the 81-year-old had any genuine remorse for the terrifying killing, and closed the door on the possibility he will ever be paroled.
On the day of the murder, Mr Turner and Robert Strange had stopped to inspect suspected illegal land clearing when Turnbull was alerted by a farm hand that they were nearby
"I am satisfied that the offender decided to kill Mr Turner when he turned into Talga Ln and saw the vehicle up the road," Justice Johnson said in sentencing yesterday.
Justice Johnson also rejected Turnbull's defence that he had been suffering from a major depressive order, but said it was an "adjustment disorder".
He said there was no evidence Turnbull had sought or was provided with medical treatment in the three years leading up to the murder, or indeed, since he went into custody.
Justice Johnson said it was clear Turnbull had a hatred of Mr Turner, who he blamed for the OEH attention on his farming properties, telling him when he shot him, "You've ruined the Turnbulls. You are continually persecuting us. The only way you're getting home is in a body bag".
But a jury had earlier heard there had been no physical or telephone contact between Turnbull or Mr Turner for two years before the murder, but Turnbull was "undoubtedly" under increasing financial strain and pressure with several proceedings in the Land and Environment Court, Justice Johnson said
Outside court, Turnbull's wife, Robeena avoided media, but son, Grant Turnbull said is father was "coping" with the sentence but called for the laws around native vegetation to change.
"The frustration that's out there, it's not just my father, there are many people out there in rural NSW that are extremely frustrated, extremely frustrated with the way it is administered and the act itself, it just needs to change," he said.
While he acknowledged this was no basis for murder, he said two families had been torn apart.
"It just needs to be made workable, otherwise this tragedy will happen again, and there will be two families torn apart ... over a piece of paper, a legislation in parliament," he said.
Justice Johnson said Turnbull's desire to clear the properties to increase their value and productivity was what brought him under notice of the OEH.
Turnbull and his wife helped Grant and grandson, Corey Turnbull to purchase Strathdoon in 2011 for $1.9 million and Colorado for $3.2 million.
Both were grazing properties at the time but the jury heard they would be converted to broadacre farms because they had good black soil, and that conversion significantly increased "the value of each property and their financial profitability".
Valuation evidence given during the murder trial showed that at the time of the 2014 murder, Strathdoon had a value of $2.2 million and Colorado $5.38 million.
"The evidence indicates that there was, and remains, a level of tension in the Moree district with respect to compliance with the Native Vegetation Act 2003," Justice Johnson said on Thursday.