Tag: jail

Ex-Bulldogs star Ryan Tandy found guilty of NRL match-fixing


Ryan Tandy found guilty of trying to fix 2010 match between Canterbury Bulldogs and North Queensland Cowboys.

Well the time has finally come to make this bloke accountable for trying to cheat the game and the fans, all because he is a greedy gambling addict.Shame on those close to him, like his professional manager who got in on the act himself too.But we will hear more on that after today.He is awaiting sentencing this afternoon as I type this….lets hope he gets a sentence as a punishment and a DETERRENT to others thinking about doing the same…

UPDATE 12.02 06/10/11 How is this for a joke! Ryan Tandy convicted, fined $4000 and placed on a 12 month good behaviour bond. And his lawyers will be appealing that.Should consider himself a lucky bastard

FORMER Bulldogs forward Ryan Tandy has been found guilty of match-fixing in an NRL betting scam.

Sports Cheat Tandy will be sentenced later today

Magistrate Janet Wahlquist today said it was clear there was a plan to manipulate the first scoring of the game in August 2010 between the Bulldogs and the North Queensland Cowboys.

The plan had to include at least one player to make the bet come off, and the only rational hypothesis was that Tandy’s role was to do all that he could to make sure the Cowboys scored the first penalty goal, Ms Wahlquist said.

“He is the only player the evidence points to,” she said.

Tandy, 30, had pleaded not guilty to manipulating the first scoring point of the match to dishonestly obtain a financial advantage for “Sam Ayoub, John Elias and others, to win $113,245 from Tabcorp“.

The charge relates to an “unusual” betting plunge on the round 24 match, specifically to bets that the first points would be scored from a Cowboys penalty goal.

Tandy was penalised two minutes into the game for impeding a Cowboys player in front of the posts, after Tandy spilled the ball and gave away possession.

The magistrate is hearing sentencing submissions.

IT took Ryan Tandy less than a week to accrue gambling debts of $30,000 which he later said he would not repay because he “disputed” some bets made on his behalf, a court heard yesterday.

The former Bulldogs forward is facing Downing Centre Local Court on four charges of lying to the NSW Crime Commission during a police investigation into suspicious betting activity on a match last NRL season between the North Queensland Cowboys and the Bulldogs.

The 28-year-old has pleaded not guilty to those charges, as well as to one count of attempting to dishonestly obtain a financial advantage by deception.

The court heard former racing journalist John Schell organised for another man, Damien Flower, to place bets on Tandy’s behalf in June and July last year.

Schell told the court that Tandy, at that stage playing for the Melbourne Storm, had said he didn’t want bets made in his own name in light of the salary cap scandal, which had been exposed just weeks earlier.

Related Coverage

The court heard that Tandy asked for three bets of $5000 to be placed on horses to win at Flemington and Sydney – only for them all to place second.

Snell said he became concerned when Tandy’s debts grew to more than $30,000 and the NRL player started to “dispute” some of the bets he’d made.

But Snell said Tandy contacted him that June weekend and during the following week about placing bets on NRL matches.

Tandy was investigated after a flurry of bets was placed on the 2010 round 24 NRL match between the Bulldogs and the Cowboys in the unusual option of North Queensland scoring first from a penalty goal.

Tandy conceded a penalty in the opening moments of the game. However, North Queensland opted to take a quick tap in front of the posts and scored a try instead.

Matthew Johnson Found Guilty of Murdering Carl Williams


Matthew Johnson has been found guilty of Murder

UPDATE 08/12/11 Sentencing today

R v Matthew Charles Johnson (sentence)
Melbourne Court 4, 11:00am
Justice Lex Lasry

Johnson is set for sentencing at 11am (now) But Justice Lex Lasry will go through the crime and circumstances before he actually sentences him. Hopefully he will do that within an hour or 2….They like to go on a bit…

I expect the last words Johnson will hear before being carted back to Barwon will be life Imprisonment, and then as it will be his final appearance he will leave the judge with some fine words of wisdom…

Anyway I will put an update as soon as I get the info, I was thinking about going in for it, but apparently the scumbag’s loser friends don’t think that highly of me I hear….haha

Matthew Johnson Found Guilty of Murdering Carl Williams

Justice Lasry has just adjourned the court until tomorrow morning at 9.30am when further administrative applications will be heard and considered. Johnson has now been remanded to Barwon Prison until further hearing on plea and sentence.

MORE TO COME 3.50pm 29/09/11 scroll down to read what the jury didnt know about this KILLER

CARL Williams’ killer Matthew Charles Johnson has been found guilty of his murder.

The verdict was reached just before 3.23pm today after deliberations that took over 13 hours over two days.

The violent career criminal bashed the gangland identity to death with an exercise bike stem in a surprise attack caught on chilling security video.

But staff weren’t manning the cameras that captured Johnson approaching Williams, 39, from behind as he sat at a table reading the Herald Sun in his high-security Barwon prison unit on April 19 last year.

Johnson, 38, told the jury he acted in self-defence, claiming another prisoner warned him that Williams was going to attack him with a sock full of billiard balls so he had to get in first.

But a Supreme Court jury’s verdict means they didn’t believe the threat was ever made.

The trial sat for 14 days and heard explosive allegations made by Williams before his death, including that a corrupt policeman paid him to have police informer Terence Hodson executed.

The prosecution had argued that Johnson’s motive might have been Williams’ agreement to help police over the Hodson murder.

The jury weren’t told Johnson has well over 100 convictions, has spent most of his adult life in prison and has a history of bashing other inmates for “turning dog” or helping authorities.

The Premier and the General

A former concreter who didn’t finish high school, Johnson was a jail heavyweight and self-proclaimed “general” of a group of inmates who called themselves the Prisoners of War.

He wrote of his plans to kill Williams the day before he did, telling another inmate, “not much doing here brother, just D2TE (death to the enemy) the way it should be”.

“I think I’ll have to hang around for a while longer … doesn’t matter but coz I love this s—. I am the true general so I must keep things in good order, true.”

He told nobody of the threat by Williams and the man who allegedly conveyed the message, cellmate Tommy Ivanovic, did not give evidence at the trial.

Johnson claimed Williams treated him badly, looked down on him and told him he was disloyal for refusing to kill a policeman for him.

He said he feared retribution for his family outside if he reacted to Williams’ provocation.

“He was a killer. If you’re not going to take a threat that comes from his corner seriously there’s something wrong with you,” he told the jury.

The trial heard evidence from Williams’ father George, who once shared the unit with Williams and Johnson before his release on parole, and Roberta Williams.

The jury also heard details of Williams’ claims of high-reaching police corruption, including that former drug squad detective Paul Dale paid him to have Hodson killed so the informer would not be able to give evidence in Dale’s court case.

VIDEO FROM INSIDE THE UNIT THE DAY CARL WAS MURDERED

AUDIO SECRETLY RECORDED INSIDE JAIL DURING VISIT

S

 

WHAT THE JURY DID NOT KNOW AT THE TRIAL

THE jury in the Matthew Johnson trial knew he was a criminal, but heard nothing of his frighteningly violent past.

More than a decade before he bashed Williams to death, he’d committed a strikingly similar crime in the very same unit of Barwon Prison – and claimed self-defence that time too.

And recently he faced a murder charge after an 18-year-old was shot dead over $50 worth of cannabis. That time, the jury believed him and he was cleared.

In 1998, he was part of a group of inmates that attacked a fellow prisoner for “giving information” to authorities – and used the same weapon he killed Williams with.

The victim of that beating, killer Greg Brazel, had been put into an Acacia unit exercise yard alone for his own safety.

But even prison walls were no match for Johnson and his cronies, who were set on attacking him.

Using a rowing machine and chair, the group pounded the armoured glass protecting Brazel for 45 minutes until they broke through, with Johnson then wielding a sandwich maker to inflict large gashes to his head.

A sandwich maker was something Johnson admitted to the jury he’d also considered using to kill Williams.

A prison officer reported seeing him use an exercise bike seat with the post attached to hit Brazel before punching and kicking him on the ground.

He ordered one of the others to stand guard and stop prison officers entering.

When charged over the assault, Johnson claimed Brazel had broken the glass himself and invited Johnson to enter before attacking him.

Johnson said he was forced to hit and kick him in self-defence.

During the County Court trial the group threw a bag of excrement into the jury box and Johnson broke wind into a microphone.

Later, Johnson menacingly called out to the juror that had been struck by the excrement – by name.

They were banished from their own hearing to watch proceedings from another room linked by video camera.

There his co-offenders bared their buttocks at the camera and the group disrupted the hearing with the Collingwood theme song.

Johnson was also involved in bashing another prisoner in 1995 after breaking into a protection unit.

By the time of the Brazel attack he had already racked up 132 convictions.

His shocking record includes taking part in the infamous Port Phillip Prison riot in 1998, armed robberies and break-ins.

He was accused of shooting dead a teenager in 2007 over a $50 drug purchase.

“Before the deceased could explain himself, Johnson pulled out a nine millimetre pistol and shot him in the chest,” the jury was told in that trial, with a co-offender giving evidence that he saw Johnson pull the trigger.

He was found not guilty of the crime. Johnson also recently pleaded guilty over a carjacking, in which he held up a mother and two teenagers at gunpoint as they sat in a McDonald’s car park

More here about that killing here https://aussiecriminals.wordpress.com/2010/10/19/matthew-johnson-killed-kid-over-50-drugs/#comment-13873

(Including some great debate and comment)

Carl "The Premier" Williams Cell
Once an exercise bike, now part of a crime scene
Who had the balls to kill who?

Jailed parents want to attend Kiesha’s Funeral-How dare they


UPDATE 16/12/11

  • Guilty plea after murder charge dropped
  • Kiesha went missing over a year ago
  • He now faces up to 25 years in jail I WONDER IF HE HAS SHIT HIMSELF BY THE THREATS HE BETTER PLEAD GUILTY  IN JAIL

THE stepfather of Sydney girl Kiesha Weippeart has pleaded guilty to her manslaughter after his murder charge was dropped.

Robert Smith’s lawyer entered guilty pleas at Penrith Local Court on the manslaughter charge and on a charge of being an accessory after the fact of murder.

Smith, 32, who was wearing prison greens, appeared via audio visual link.

In April, Smith and the little girl’s mother, Kristi Anne Abrahams, 27, were charged with the murder of six-year-old Kiesha, who was reported missing from her home at Mt Druitt, in western Sydney, on August 1 last year.

They were charged after human remains were found in bushland at Shalvey, near Mt Druitt, on April 22.

Smith was formally refused bail and his sentencing will be mentioned in the Supreme Court on February 3. He faces up to 25 years in jail.

Abrahams did not appear in court and her matter was adjourned to Penrith on March 9.

A small group of people, wearing purple T-shirts bearing Kiesha’s picture and the words “Forever in our hearts”, attended the short hearing.

UPDATE 10/06/11

MURDERED girl Kiesha Weippeart’s stepfather and mother took other people into bushland where her shallow grave was located just before they were arrested, it will be alleged.

A statement of police evidence against Kiesha’s mother Kristi Abrahams, 28, and stepfather Robert Smith, 31, reveals police will allege Smith indicated a shallow grave site to the people.

The police operation occurred on the night of April 21, when the pair were arrested after leaving bushland in Shalvey where the six-year-old’s remains were later found, police will allege.

Police will also allege that, following Kiesha’s disappearance last year, they found blood in her bedroom as well as the master bedroom, loungeroom and entrance to the unit she had shared with her mother and stepfather in Woodstock Ave, Mt Druitt.

“The blood is on the floors, doors, lounge and bedsheets,” police allege in the statement.

The documents allege blood stains that were not visible to the naked eye were discovered using luminol, a chemical police use to enhance the visibility of blood.

“This product revealed larger areas of blood that appeared to have been cleaned,” the statement by homicide squad detectives said.

It will also be alleged that Abrahams’ and Smith’s communications included a text message between the pair the night before they reported Kiesha missing, when they told police they were together with their children – including Kiesha – watching the movie The Golden Compass. Neither Abrahams nor Smith could explain the text.

It was revealed in police allegations that Kiesha was murdered on July 14.

She allegedly died after being thrown against the wall and knocked unconscious, causing blood to seep out of her ears. She was then allegedly put in the shower and, still wet, put to bed.

Police allege that the next morning, the six-year-old was dead but her parents left her body in the house until July 18, when they packed her remains into a suitcase and took it to the bushland in Shalvey.

They reported her missing to police on August 1.

Prosecutors will also rely on alleged comments made by Abrahams as she watched news coverage of missing Australian girl Zahra Baker, whose body was found in bushland in North Carolina.

THE mother and stepfather charged with murdering Kiesha Weippeart have said they want to leave jail to attend her funeral. How bloody dare they, they would not make it back alive. Do they realise how despised they are? Do they accept the position they are in? The evidence  is over whelming. These maggots need to die in jail, not leave it. For nothing, anytime, anywhere anyhow unless it is in a coffin!

No way in hell says Chris Weippeart, Kiesha's father...WE are with you mate!

Family of accused killers Kristi Abrahams and Robert Smith yesterday revealed the pair had indicated they would like to be allowed to publicly farewell the little girl when her funeral is held towards the end of the month.

However, the girl’s biological father Chris Weippeart said “hell would freeze over” before Abrahams and Smith would be welcomed at the funeral of his only daughter.

Abrahams and Smith are both being held on remand in Sydney jails, accused of killing Kiesha in July last year, then burying her body in a shallow bush grave.

From his hospital bed in western Sydney yesterday, where he is being treated for complications associated with his diabetes, Mr Weippeart vowed to do whatever he could to stop the pair from being able to attend the funeral.

“My family are the ones left to deal with all of this and arrange the best send-off for Kiesha that she deserves, and, I’m telling you, they are not coming.”

His mother Liz Weippeart said: “It infuriates me just thinking about it.”

But relatives of Abrahams and Smith said the pair should be allowed to attend the funeral like any other mourner, given the fact that they had raised Kiesha. Have a look at this picture un-named relatives! They lost their rights when they killed this little princess. They only way they will be leaving jail is in coffins…

Little girl lost ... Kiesha Weippeart

“I think they should be allowed to go … they are innocent until proven guilty,” Smith’s mother Rebecca said. Mrs Smith added that she had spoken to her son and Abrahams since they were charged with murder and refused bail on April 22, and that they were both “doing OK”.

A Corrective Services spokeswoman said that, while neither Abrahams or Smith had formally applied for day leave because a funeral date had not been set, it was unlikely they would be allowed to attend.

“There would also be security concerns about them attending that could not be addressed at such short notice,” the spokeswoman said.

Skeletal remains belonging to Kiesha were discovered in a shallow grave in bushland at Shalvey almost three weeks ago.

However, her funeral has been delayed because further testing needs to be carried out on the bones before they can be released to her family for burial.

Glebe Morgue has told the Weippeart family that the remains will be free for burial in about a fortnight.

Kristi Abrahams and Robert Smith attend little Kiesha's funeral? Over about one million Aussies dead bodies you maggots

Jailed parents want to attend Kiesha's Funeral-How dare they


UPDATE 16/12/11

  • Guilty plea after murder charge dropped
  • Kiesha went missing over a year ago
  • He now faces up to 25 years in jail I WONDER IF HE HAS SHIT HIMSELF BY THE THREATS HE BETTER PLEAD GUILTY  IN JAIL

THE stepfather of Sydney girl Kiesha Weippeart has pleaded guilty to her manslaughter after his murder charge was dropped.

Robert Smith’s lawyer entered guilty pleas at Penrith Local Court on the manslaughter charge and on a charge of being an accessory after the fact of murder.

Smith, 32, who was wearing prison greens, appeared via audio visual link.

In April, Smith and the little girl’s mother, Kristi Anne Abrahams, 27, were charged with the murder of six-year-old Kiesha, who was reported missing from her home at Mt Druitt, in western Sydney, on August 1 last year.

They were charged after human remains were found in bushland at Shalvey, near Mt Druitt, on April 22.

Smith was formally refused bail and his sentencing will be mentioned in the Supreme Court on February 3. He faces up to 25 years in jail.

Abrahams did not appear in court and her matter was adjourned to Penrith on March 9.

A small group of people, wearing purple T-shirts bearing Kiesha’s picture and the words “Forever in our hearts”, attended the short hearing.

UPDATE 10/06/11

MURDERED girl Kiesha Weippeart’s stepfather and mother took other people into bushland where her shallow grave was located just before they were arrested, it will be alleged.

A statement of police evidence against Kiesha’s mother Kristi Abrahams, 28, and stepfather Robert Smith, 31, reveals police will allege Smith indicated a shallow grave site to the people.

The police operation occurred on the night of April 21, when the pair were arrested after leaving bushland in Shalvey where the six-year-old’s remains were later found, police will allege.

Police will also allege that, following Kiesha’s disappearance last year, they found blood in her bedroom as well as the master bedroom, loungeroom and entrance to the unit she had shared with her mother and stepfather in Woodstock Ave, Mt Druitt.

“The blood is on the floors, doors, lounge and bedsheets,” police allege in the statement.

The documents allege blood stains that were not visible to the naked eye were discovered using luminol, a chemical police use to enhance the visibility of blood.

“This product revealed larger areas of blood that appeared to have been cleaned,” the statement by homicide squad detectives said.

It will also be alleged that Abrahams’ and Smith’s communications included a text message between the pair the night before they reported Kiesha missing, when they told police they were together with their children – including Kiesha – watching the movie The Golden Compass. Neither Abrahams nor Smith could explain the text.

It was revealed in police allegations that Kiesha was murdered on July 14.

She allegedly died after being thrown against the wall and knocked unconscious, causing blood to seep out of her ears. She was then allegedly put in the shower and, still wet, put to bed.

Police allege that the next morning, the six-year-old was dead but her parents left her body in the house until July 18, when they packed her remains into a suitcase and took it to the bushland in Shalvey.

They reported her missing to police on August 1.

Prosecutors will also rely on alleged comments made by Abrahams as she watched news coverage of missing Australian girl Zahra Baker, whose body was found in bushland in North Carolina.

THE mother and stepfather charged with murdering Kiesha Weippeart have said they want to leave jail to attend her funeral. How bloody dare they, they would not make it back alive. Do they realise how despised they are? Do they accept the position they are in? The evidence  is over whelming. These maggots need to die in jail, not leave it. For nothing, anytime, anywhere anyhow unless it is in a coffin!

No way in hell says Chris Weippeart, Kiesha's father...WE are with you mate!

Family of accused killers Kristi Abrahams and Robert Smith yesterday revealed the pair had indicated they would like to be allowed to publicly farewell the little girl when her funeral is held towards the end of the month.

However, the girl’s biological father Chris Weippeart said “hell would freeze over” before Abrahams and Smith would be welcomed at the funeral of his only daughter.

Abrahams and Smith are both being held on remand in Sydney jails, accused of killing Kiesha in July last year, then burying her body in a shallow bush grave.

From his hospital bed in western Sydney yesterday, where he is being treated for complications associated with his diabetes, Mr Weippeart vowed to do whatever he could to stop the pair from being able to attend the funeral.

“My family are the ones left to deal with all of this and arrange the best send-off for Kiesha that she deserves, and, I’m telling you, they are not coming.”

His mother Liz Weippeart said: “It infuriates me just thinking about it.”

But relatives of Abrahams and Smith said the pair should be allowed to attend the funeral like any other mourner, given the fact that they had raised Kiesha. Have a look at this picture un-named relatives! They lost their rights when they killed this little princess. They only way they will be leaving jail is in coffins…

Little girl lost ... Kiesha Weippeart

“I think they should be allowed to go … they are innocent until proven guilty,” Smith’s mother Rebecca said. Mrs Smith added that she had spoken to her son and Abrahams since they were charged with murder and refused bail on April 22, and that they were both “doing OK”.

A Corrective Services spokeswoman said that, while neither Abrahams or Smith had formally applied for day leave because a funeral date had not been set, it was unlikely they would be allowed to attend.

“There would also be security concerns about them attending that could not be addressed at such short notice,” the spokeswoman said.

Skeletal remains belonging to Kiesha were discovered in a shallow grave in bushland at Shalvey almost three weeks ago.

However, her funeral has been delayed because further testing needs to be carried out on the bones before they can be released to her family for burial.

Glebe Morgue has told the Weippeart family that the remains will be free for burial in about a fortnight.

Kristi Abrahams and Robert Smith attend little Kiesha's funeral? Over about one million Aussies dead bodies you maggots

Belanglo Forest claims another life


Update tonight-Alleged killer is a relative of Ivan Milat, the backpacker serial killer…This is astonishing news

A TEEN found dead in a shallow grave in the killing fields of notorious serial killer Ivan Milat was allegedly slain by three mates, police allege.


Belanglo State Forest, claims another life

Police discovered the body, in a shallow grave and covered with debris, in the killing fields of the the notorious serial killer Ivan Milat following a tip-off from a member of the public.

Acting police commander Pamela Young, from the homicide squad, confirmed today that all four teenagers knew each other and were believed to have gone to the forest together.

“It would appear that they, certainly, are friends,” the chief inspector said.

Police made the arrests after the body was found in the forest about 8.30pm last night.

Police would not say if the arrest was connected to the discovery of a young woman’s body in the forest two months ago.

Detectives from the Homicide Squad and Goulburn Local Area Command  arrested three teenagers last night and this morning.

Related Coverage

Police search the crime scene in the Belanglo State Forest in the NSW Southern Highlands.

At 11pm last night police arrested an 18-year-old man in Bowral and another two teenagers were arrested this morning.

About 7.30am this morning a 17-year-old boy was arrested at Bargo, while another 18-year-old man was arrested at Bargo a few hours later.

All three are expected to be charged and appear in court later today.

Forensic police and detectives spent the night going through the crime scene and still have a section of the forest cordoned off.

In a police conference held today, Ms Young said the body had not been in the forest long, and that the discovery was made after local police followed a tip-off last night.

She said the scene of the crime suggested the teenager was killed in the forest with some type of weapon, but not a gun, and said a post-mortem would clarify the cause of death.

She said police still had more questions for the three men, who appeared to be friends, despite “a level of cooperation” by the teens, who had “family ties” in the area.

“What we’re alleging is that their actions led to the death of the boy in his late teens,” Ms Young said.

And she said the body had not been found near areas Milat had been known to dispose of bodies.

Ms Young also said the dead youth had not been subject to a missing persons or anonymous report.

A crime scene examination was carried out overnight in the bushland south of Sydney and an 18-year-old man was arrested at Bowral at 11pm.

They were taken to Bowral police station and charges are expected to be laid.

On September 1 this year a woman’s skeletal remains were also found in the Belanglo Forest .

Police believe the young woman aged in her late teens or twenties was murdered.

The NSW Belanglo forest has a sordid history.

The bones of a young woman – aged between 15 and 25 – were discovered by motorbike trail riders on August 29.

Forensic testing indicated those remains had been there for less than 12 years, ruling out the possibility that Ivan Milat was the killer.

The Belanglo forest was Milat’s killing ground. He partly buried seven young victims there in the early 1990s.

Insp Young said the boy’s body was found in a different part of the forest to where Milat dumped his victims.

Killer wife Margaret Uttley's $20m property jackpot


Margaret Uttley

A BLACK widow who killed her husband stands to hit a multi-million-dollar property jackpot after being released from jail.

Margaret Erica Uttley, 55, was released from Tarrengower women’s prison after serving two years’ jail for manslaughter of her husband Stephen.

Uttley, who shot and killed her husband in October 2000, faces a potential windfall of more than $20 million because of the State Government’s re-zoning of land in Melbourne’s west.

The 92ha property in Tarneit has been left to her four children in trust, who relatives say will share the spoils with their mother who holds a caveat over the farm.

Mr Uttley’s family is convinced the children will hand money over to their mother.

“The kids will give it to her,” his sister Pauline said.

“I’ve got no doubt she’ll get her hands on the money. We’re not doing anything about it. The land goes to the children. If she gets her hands on it, it’s up to them.”

The property – where she shot, buried, exhumed and then burned Stephen Uttley on a rubbish heap – was listed by the Urban Growth Authority in August this year.

Its listing of the property opens it up for developers to buy and subdivide as part of Melbourne’s next major residential belt.

After Uttley shot her husband, who she claimed was an alcoholic, she told family and friends he had gone to the Nothern Territory with an old school friend and had not returned.

She maintained the lie for seven years.

But in July 2006, police launched Operation Mayfly, and a year later charged her with murder.

Uttley, who denied killing her husband to police on August 19, 2007, confessed to shooting him in their bedroom during a second interview eight days later.

Her confession came a year after she took a caveat over the property. Mr Uttley’s two sisters, Pauline and Judith, sought legal advice over the land but have since given up. In 1999, the year before Mr Uttley was shot by his wife, the property was transferred from family company Uttley Nominees into his name.

From there it was transferred into the trust.

The move came as the Uttleys faced financial ruin.

Uttley left her husband in March 2000 before returning to the farm and life with her beer-swilling lover within a fortnight.

A court heard Uttley allegedly told a friend about this time: “If I could shoot him and get away with it, I would.”

She pleaded guilty to manslaughter after being accused of murder and ordered to stand trial on that charge.

During the murder trial, in which Uttley pleaded not guilty, the prosecution and defence struck a manslaughter deal. Mario Stocco, Mr Uttley’s best friend, was the last person to see him alive outside his family at a barbecue he hosted in Werribee on Sunday October 8, 2000.

He was reported missing two years after the gathering.

“She never saw eye to eye with me,” he said.

“I pointed the finger at her from the start.”

The Herald Sun understands the family have been trying to push a coroner’s inquest through to gain a death certificate for their father – allowing them to claim the land.

Because DNA could not be extracted from Mr Uttley’s remains, he was only issued a death certificate this month after an inquest.

A source also said John Pante, a Tarneit vegetable grower, proposed to Uttley while she was in prison, but they could not marry because she had not divorced her officially missing husband.

The minimum two-year sentence handed down over Mr Uttley’s killing was too lenient, a family member said. “We weren’t happy about it, but what can you do?” she said.

“The prosecution gave up … I’ve moved on.

“They (the children) sided with their mother.”

Another family member was bemused over the Uttleys’ potential windfall.

“Has she ever hit the jackpot,” he said.

Killer wife Margaret Uttley’s $20m property jackpot


Margaret Uttley

A BLACK widow who killed her husband stands to hit a multi-million-dollar property jackpot after being released from jail.

Margaret Erica Uttley, 55, was released from Tarrengower women’s prison after serving two years’ jail for manslaughter of her husband Stephen.

Uttley, who shot and killed her husband in October 2000, faces a potential windfall of more than $20 million because of the State Government’s re-zoning of land in Melbourne’s west.

The 92ha property in Tarneit has been left to her four children in trust, who relatives say will share the spoils with their mother who holds a caveat over the farm.

Mr Uttley’s family is convinced the children will hand money over to their mother.

“The kids will give it to her,” his sister Pauline said.

“I’ve got no doubt she’ll get her hands on the money. We’re not doing anything about it. The land goes to the children. If she gets her hands on it, it’s up to them.”

The property – where she shot, buried, exhumed and then burned Stephen Uttley on a rubbish heap – was listed by the Urban Growth Authority in August this year.

Its listing of the property opens it up for developers to buy and subdivide as part of Melbourne’s next major residential belt.

After Uttley shot her husband, who she claimed was an alcoholic, she told family and friends he had gone to the Nothern Territory with an old school friend and had not returned.

She maintained the lie for seven years.

But in July 2006, police launched Operation Mayfly, and a year later charged her with murder.

Uttley, who denied killing her husband to police on August 19, 2007, confessed to shooting him in their bedroom during a second interview eight days later.

Her confession came a year after she took a caveat over the property. Mr Uttley’s two sisters, Pauline and Judith, sought legal advice over the land but have since given up. In 1999, the year before Mr Uttley was shot by his wife, the property was transferred from family company Uttley Nominees into his name.

From there it was transferred into the trust.

The move came as the Uttleys faced financial ruin.

Uttley left her husband in March 2000 before returning to the farm and life with her beer-swilling lover within a fortnight.

A court heard Uttley allegedly told a friend about this time: “If I could shoot him and get away with it, I would.”

She pleaded guilty to manslaughter after being accused of murder and ordered to stand trial on that charge.

During the murder trial, in which Uttley pleaded not guilty, the prosecution and defence struck a manslaughter deal. Mario Stocco, Mr Uttley’s best friend, was the last person to see him alive outside his family at a barbecue he hosted in Werribee on Sunday October 8, 2000.

He was reported missing two years after the gathering.

“She never saw eye to eye with me,” he said.

“I pointed the finger at her from the start.”

The Herald Sun understands the family have been trying to push a coroner’s inquest through to gain a death certificate for their father – allowing them to claim the land.

Because DNA could not be extracted from Mr Uttley’s remains, he was only issued a death certificate this month after an inquest.

A source also said John Pante, a Tarneit vegetable grower, proposed to Uttley while she was in prison, but they could not marry because she had not divorced her officially missing husband.

The minimum two-year sentence handed down over Mr Uttley’s killing was too lenient, a family member said. “We weren’t happy about it, but what can you do?” she said.

“The prosecution gave up … I’ve moved on.

“They (the children) sided with their mother.”

Another family member was bemused over the Uttleys’ potential windfall.

“Has she ever hit the jackpot,” he said.

Chaouk matriarch calls for an end to ongoing feud with rival clan


Crime family patriarch dies of illness
May 4, 2012

AHMED Haddara, who was questioned over the murder of rival clan patriarch Macchour Chaouk, has died of natural causes.

Haddara and Chaouk were the heads of two rival Middle Eastern crime gangs operating in Melbourne’s west.

Chaouk, 65, was shot dead in the backyard of his Brooklyn home in August 2010.
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Police have yet to charge anyone over the shooting but days after the murder, Haddara, 57 at the time, was taken in for questioning.

He was later released without charge, but police said before he died he was ”a person of interest”. Haddara is believed to have been ill for some time.

At the height of the clan war, police placed a guard on Haddara’s home, also in Melbourne’s west, to prevent retaliation.

Chaouk is believed to have whispered the identity of his killer to family before he died.

Investigations, headed by Detective Senior Sergeant Ron Iddles, are continuing. The Chaouk family has said it has faith the detective will bring the killer to justice.

Chaouk matriarch calls for an end to ongoing feud with rival clan

Fatima Chaouk

THE cancer-stricken matriarch of Melbourne‘s Chaouk clan is desperate to end their vicious blood feud with the rival Haddara clan, a judge was told today.

Defence lawyer Tas Roubos told a County Court plea hearing the Chaouk family had gone through a “cultural change” since patriarch Macchour Chaouk was gunned down in his back yard in August.

Mr Roubos said his wife, Fatma Chaouk, has taken control and she wants all of the outstanding criminal matters involving her family to be resolved so they can escape the feud.

“The family is seriously contemplating moving from Melbourne,” Mr Roubos said.

“It’s just not tenable to remain in Melbourne any more.”

Mr Roubos said Mrs Chaouk’s attitude to the war between the families was “this has to end”.

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Judge McInerney commented: ”I am sure the community will be very pleased if it does end.”

Today Fatma’s son, Matwali Chaouk, 26, of Brooklyn, pleaded guilty to a number of firearms offences, which Mr Roubos said stemmed from the feud with the Haddaras and the tit-for-tat violence.

Mr Roubos said Fatma Chaouk did not want her family to be involved in the continual spiral of violence and she had given the homicide squad unprecedented co-operation in the hunt for her husband’s killer.

He said Mrs Chaouk had cancer and a limited life span and it would be a disaster for Matwali Chaouk if his mother died while he was in jail.

“The last five years have been nothing but doom and gloom for this family,” the defence lawyer told Judge Michael McInerney.

Marwali Chaouk pleaded guilty to charges that being a prohibited person he was in possession of two handguns and a pump-action sawn-off shotgun, between June and July this year.

He also pleaded guilty to possession of quantities of ammunition that could be used in the weapons between the same dates.

Prosecutor Mark Gibson said members of the Santiago Taskforce initiated a search warrant on a garage in Brooklyn and found Chaouk had a loaded .22 calibre Llama hand gun in a bum bag.

A raid on his house uncovered a quantity of ammunition.

Mr Gibson said that on July 1, the taskforce raided the main Chaouk family home in Brooklyn and found a Ruger pump-action shotgun hidden in a wall behind a cupboard and a fully-loaded Sterm Ruger Magnum hand gun in a woodpile in the back yard.

A quantity of various kinds of ammunition was found and Chaouk wrote a statement in jail saying all of the weaponry belonged to him.

Mr Roubos said his client had the weapons for self-protection and because of the feud with the Haddaras where there was a constant threat and people reacted to events quickly.

Although the possession of the guns charges carry a 15-year maximum Mr Gibson argued for a jail sentence of between 12 and 18 months.

The defence counsel said his client should get less because of his age and his mother’s health problems.

He said Chaouk is being held in 23-hour a day lockdown in Barwon Jail’s Acacia Unit, which he likened to a form of torture.

Mr Roubos said jail authorities used the murder in custody of gangland boss Carl Williams as an excuse to insist the lockdown is necessary to protect his client.

Judge McInerney will sentence Chaouk on November 11.