Police recover a metal toolbox in the homicide investigation. Photo / news.com.au
Police recover a metal toolbox in the homicide investigation. Photo / news.com.au
A jury has found three out of four men guilty of the brutal murders of Cory Breton and Iuliana Triscaru, who were found dead in a submerged toolbox south of Brisbane.
Stou Daniels, Trent Michael Thrupp, Davy Malu Junior Taiao and Waylon Ngaketo Cowan Walker pleaded not guilty to murderingthe Brisbane pair in January 2016.
Sobs could be heard from the public gallery as the verdicts for the four men were handed down one by one.
The jury deliberated for just a day before handing down guilty verdicts to two counts of murder for Daniels, Thrupp and Taiao.
Walker was found not guilty of murdering the pair but guilty of manslaughter.
During the trial the court was told drug dealers Breton, 28, and Triscaru, 31 were lured to a unit in Kingston on January 24, 2016 where they were assaulted and tied up by the group.
They were then loaded into a large metal toolbox – still screaming and banging on the lid – which was driven to a lagoon at Scrubby Creek, near Logan, and dumped in the water.
The pair's decomposing bodies were pulled from the lagoon in February – several weeks after they were reported missing.
Iuliana Triscaru and Cory Breton were found dumped inside a metal toolbox.
A pathologist had ruled they either died from asphyxiation or drowning.
Outside of court, Breton's widow Miranda Parkinson told media she had not been able to grieve the loss of her partner for years due to court proceedings.
"Now we have some sort of closure (and) we can actually mourn in our own way," Parkinson said.
"We would like to thank everyone, the public prosecutors, the detectives and everyone for their help in getting this outcome.
"Now we can finally start to move on."
Lelan Harrington, the crown's star witness and a friend of Breton, told the jury he was present the night the pair died and saw them being attacked with a knife and pole.
After noticing Triscaru had escaped from the box, he raised the alarm and this led to her being restrained again and placed in the toolbox, the court heard.
He gave evidence that he heard the pair "screaming" and banging on the toolbox lid as it was being driven away.
Three other New Zealanders have already been sentenced for their roles in the slayings. Tepuna Tupuna Mariri, 29, was jailed for 13 years after pleading to two counts of manslaughter and two counts of torture. Webbstar Latu, 31, has been sentenced to 12 years jail after pleading guilty to manslaughter for helping carry the toolbox. Ngatokoona Mareiti, 40, was sentenced to nine years after helping clean an apartment after the crime.
