Haunting footage shows the chilling moment a young tradie’s fate was sealed by his fiancee’s evil dad

CCTV has emerged of a tradie’s last moments alive before he was shot dead by his fiancee’s father over a bitter property dispute.

Army veteran Luke Samouel Simon, 60, was sentenced to 31 years behind bars in the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday after previously pleading guilty to killing Damien Conlon, 38, two years ago.

The court heard Simon had lured the Irish tradie to his home in Oberon in central-west NSW on February 9, 2023 before shooting him in the head.

Simon had inherited a property following his father’s death in October 2021.

He had agreed to let his future son-in-law Mr Conlon, his daughter Linda Simon, their two children and Ms Simon’s two children from a prior relationship move into the property’s main house.

Simon had planned to move into a granny flat on the Oberon block, which was yet to be built, when he was served with a document by the couple requesting he vacate the main home so they could do renovations. 

Court documents seen by news.com.au detailed Simon’s initial denial that he had planned to kill Mr Conlon.

Instead, the homeowner claimed he shot the Irishman after Mr Conlon ‘smirked’ at him during an argument about the property.

Damien Conlon (pictured with fiancee Linda Simon) was shot dead by her father Luke Samouel Simon on February 9, 2023

Simon had been locked in a property dispute with his daughter and before murdering Mr Conlon (pictured outside the home moments before his death)

‘When I affronted him this morning, and I said to him, look you f**ker. I know you’re trying to do me over. I said I know a con when I see one, I’m not f**king stupid. And he smiled,’  Simon told police shortly after the murder.

‘And I said what the f**k and I pulled out the firearm and pointed it at him and said say your prayers.’

After killing his son-in-law to be, Simon sat on a trailer outside the Oberon home and called police.

He confessed to a passing neighbour that he’d ‘just killed Damien’ while waiting for police to arrive.

‘I put two in his body and one in the head. I’ve called the cops and I have told them I am unarmed. Don’t worry mate you’re in no danger. I have no intent to harm anyone else,’ Simon told the neighbour.

‘Sixty years of hard work by my old man and they wanted to just take it.

‘I lured him here and when I opened the door I said get on your knees and confess. He confessed and I shot him.’

During Thursday, sentencing, Judge Sarah McNaughton ruled that Simon had intended to kill Mr Conlon, referencing CCTV shown to the court.

CCTV footage showed Simon (pictured) retrieving a firearm case two days before the murder

Linda Simon (left)  says her children still ask why their father Damien Conlon (right),is dead

In the disturbing video captured two days earlier on February 7, Simon is seen rummaging through a safe in the laundry and retrieving what appeared to be a pistol.

‘That’s the one that is going to put him to sleep. F**king Damien, you’re f**king gone,’ he’s overheard saying in the chilling footage.

In an attempt to argue that the CCTV didn’t indicate premeditation, Simon’s lawyer claimed the disgruntled grandfather had been taking an empty rifle case out of the safe.

However, Judge McNaughton concluded Simon wouldn’t have handled the case with such care if it was empty.

Court documents also detailed a conversation Simon had with an IGA deli worker a day before the shooting in which he claimed he’d ‘found out’ someone was ‘ripping him off’.

‘I’ll get them,’ Simon told the worker.

CCTV also captured the moment Mr Conlon arrived at the disputed home on the morning of February 9 after Simon told him something had been stolen.

He was seen walking up the driveway and taking off his sunglasses and engaged in a brief conversation as Simon opened the door.

‘Come and have a look at this cabinet,’ Simon is heard saying.

‘I’m not 100 per cent sure.’  

Two loud bangs were heard seconds after Mr Conlon walked inside.

Simon (pictured on CCTV before the killing) was sentenced to 31 years on Thursday morning

Simon confessed to murdering Mr Conlon (pictured) but denied the shooting was premeditated

‘At 7.56am the deceased was recorded laying on the ground at the front steps of the property,’ the court documents state.

‘The offender approaches the deceased, says ‘bye bye Damien’ and proceeds to shoot him behind his right ear at close range.’

Simon pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 31 years in jail, with a non-parole period of 22 years. 

In a harrowing victim impact statement, Ms Simon refused to acknowledge Simon as her father and requested he been jailed over her fiance’s murder.

Mr Conlon was killed just months before the couple’s wedding. 

‘Luke, I believe you are a coward,’ Ms Simon said.

‘You only had one intention in mind when you lured him into your home and that was that Damien would not be alive after he entered your house.’

The court also on Thursday heard Mr Conlon’s youngest child still asks his mum ‘Why is Daddy dead?’

The family were unable to have an open casket funeral due to Mr Conlon’s catastrophic injuries. 

Mr Conlon moved to Australia in 2011 and met Ms Simon on a dating app in 2019.

CCTV showed Mr Conlon arriving at the Oberon home (pictured) shortly before the shooting

The pair had planned to marry at the end of 2023. 

‘We had deposits paid on the venue, the church and everything, but unfortunately that will never be,’ Ms Simon told the Irish Mirror.

‘That is the hardest part, all the plans we had for the future and watching our children growing up without him. We just take it day by day now, that is all we can do.’

She said one of her sons ‘still walks around the house looking for him’.

‘There’s memories of happiness and joy when we remember the good times, but then it just hits you that that’s all gone now,’ Ms Simon said.

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