A former Bandidos bikie who viciously beat his Kiwi girlfriend to death in Queensland in 2015 has been sentenced to life behind bars for a second murder.
Lionel Patea, 26, admitted brutally bashing Gold Coast drug runner Greg Dufty over a $32,000 marijuana debt.
Justice Martin Burns' sentence in theSupreme Court of Queensland means Patea will have to serve at least 30 years in prison. He will be eligible for parole in May 2048.
New Zealander Tara Brown was murdered by Lionel Patea.
Only two months after Dufty's death, Patea viciously beat Tara Brown to death with a fire hydrant cover after running her car off the road. He is serving a life sentence for her murder.Patea's brother Nelson Andrea Patea, 24, and Aaron John Crawford, 30, pleaded guilty yesterday to one count each of manslaughter for Dufty's death. Crawford also pleaded guilty to interfering with a corpse.
Dufty's partner, Sharni Mill, confronting his killers in court in Brisbane today, gave a heartfelt statement about the effect his murder had had on his family. Mill, who is the mother of Dufty's two children, told the Supreme Court of Queensland that she turned to Crawford when Dufty went missing.
"You promised me you would help find him … you looked me in the eye and lied to my face," she said.
Dufty's sister Barbara also read a statement on behalf of their mother, Margaret Dufty.
It spoke about how Dufty supported the family after the death of their father and how he would be missed from family gatherings.
An apology from Nelson Patea to Dufty's family was read to the court.
"It was not my intention to hurt or injure him," he wrote.
Lionel Patea has admitted a second murder.
He wrote that what he did was "not forgivable" and he did not ask for forgiveness.
"I hope you hear from my heart this was unintended and cost a life."
In February, Liam Bliss was placed on a five-year suspended sentence after pleading guilty to manslaughter.
On the same day Clinton Stockman pleaded guilty to manslaughter and interfering with a corpse and was sentenced to six years prison with immediate parole eligibility.
The court was told of the horrific events which unfolded on July 6, 2015, when Crawford had pulled together a group of six men to "question" Dufty about $32,000 of missing cannabis.
Crawford picked up Dufty in an Ashmore carpark before driving him to a remote location to meet the other men.
Lionel Patea was the first to strike Dufty, bashing him on the head with a large metal object.
The blow caused Dufty to fall to the ground, where the other men punched and kicked him. During the beating Crawford hit Dufty to the legs with a truck-tyre checker, a metal tool similar in shape to a baseball bat.
Lionel Patea murdered his partner Tara Brown and has now admitted a second killing committed two months earlier.
The Patea brothers and co-accused Liam Bliss then left the scene.
They were told Dufty still had a pulse and Lionel Patea called Crawford and told him to take Dufty to hospital.
Crawford and co-accused Clinton Stockman instead took Dufty to a farm house.
A statement from Stockman given to the court said he saw Crawford, who once described Dufty as his best friend, then yell at him to wake up and that there was "torture" waiting for him.
Hours later the pair realised Dufty was no longer breathing.
Crawford began to tell Stockman how to dispose of the body and the pair loaded Dufty on to a tarpaulin in the back of Crawford's truck.
The body was covered with gravel and the pair took Dufty to Crawford's farm where they burned his body and destroyed his wallet, bank cards and cellphone.
