UPDATE
A Queensland tradie has been jailed for more than 18 years for murdering his boss with "savagery and ferocity" in a sledgehammer attack near Narrabri.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
When Frederick Tuffs told one of his construction workers to get over a failed relationship, he couldn't have imagined the fatal savagery it would unleash.
Patrick Allen Boon picked up a sledgehammer in the job-site breakroom they were in at Wee Waa and beat his boss to within an inch of his life.
The drug-addled Queensland man then used a wrench to continue the bashing.
On Friday, Boon was jailed for 18 years and six months for the June 2017 murder.
NSW Supreme Court Justice Robert Allan Hulme said he was in a state of self-induced intoxication when Mr Tuffs made a comment that the concrete truck driver should get over his ex-wife, from whom he'd split months earlier.
An enraged Boon hit his boss two or three times with 1.8kg sledgehammer and ran outside to dispose of the tool.
He soon returned, saw the bloodied grandfather trying to get up and attacked him with a 60-centimetre long wrench.
Later, in a police interview, Boon told police: "Once I got started, I thought 'f*** it'. I didn't think it'd escalate that much.
"I didn't intend to f***ing kill him but if tension builds up ... s***'s got to break, I suppose."
In court on Friday, Boon testified he couldn't remember the attack and could only recall bits and pieces of the day but said he still had nightmares about it.
Once I got started, I thought 'f*** it'. I didn't think it'd escalate that much.
- Patrick Boon
The Townsville-born man pleaded guilty to murder in May but has repeatedly said it wasn't his intention to kill.
But Justice Hulme said the attack's savage nature spoke to a murderous intent.
"Even if I am wrong, I don't think it matters," the judge said.
"The deceased was beaten with such savagery and ferocity that even if there is reasonable doubt, the objective gravity is not any less."
The court was told in the previous four days, Boon had used ice daily and also consumed cannabis and oxycodone before driving to Wee Waa for work on June 13.
In the hours before the murder, several witnesses saw him lifting manhole covers in the town's streets.
Boon told various people he had been looking for his ex-wife, "following her voice all over town through the drains" and that she was being dragged around town attached to a car.
The victim's daughter, Sarah Tuffs, told the court Boon had shattered her family and they would never be the same again.
"Everyone says it gets easier with time. It doesn't," her statement, read by a support person, said.
"I have only one question: Why did you do this?"
Boon did not address her question when he gave evidence but said he was terribly sorry for the murder.
He denied ice made him aggressive, said the drug often linked to paranoia and psychosis "didn't have any effect on me" in the three years he used it and that he only consumed it to stay awake.
Similarly, he said he only used cannabis to help him sleep.
Boon will be 51 when eligible for parole in April 2031.
AAP
EARLIER
A concreter who murdered his boss in the break room of a local worksite with "savagery and ferocity" has been jailed for at least 13 years and 10 months.
Queensland man Patrick Allen Boon struck grandfather Frederick Tuffs over the head with a sledgehammer several times and then continued the bashing with a wrench near Narrabri, on June 13, 2017.
The 57-year-old site manager died in hospital the next morning.
Boon, who pleaded guilty to murder in May, was on Friday jailed for 18 years and six months, with a minimum term of 13 years and 10 months.
READ ALSO:
The Townsville-born man will be eligible for parole in April 2031.
Boon told the court on Friday he still had nightmares about the murder but he couldn't remember actually killing Mr Tuffs and never had an intention to kill.
But NSW Supreme Court Justice Robert Allan Hulme said beating Mr Tuffs so savagely spoke to a murderous intent.
"Even if I am wrong, I don't think it matters," the judge said.
"The deceased was beaten with such savagery and ferocity that even if there is reasonable doubt, the objective gravity is not any less."
AAP
