Uncle, 50, spits at jurors and calls them ‘pigs’ after being found guilty of shooting his nephew, 23, in an honour killing because he cheated on his cousin who he was engaged to marry
A Sydney man has spat at jurors and labelled them ‘pigs’ after they found him guilty of murdering his nephew in an ‘honour killing’ after an extramarital affair.
The 50-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had denied murdering his nephew by shooting him seven times with a semi-automatic weapon at the entrance of a home in western Sydney in 2015.
The Crown had alleged the 23-year-old victim spent hours in an intimate ‘meeting’ with his aunt – the accused’s wife – before he was fatally shot in the head and heart.
He had come from overseas to live with the accused and his wife and had been supposed to marry their daughter.
A Sydney man has been found guilty of murdering his nephew in an ‘honour killing’ after an extramarital affair. NSW Supreme Court is pictured
The 11-person jury had deliberated for more than a week before Justice Peter Johnson gave them a direction on Wednesday that they could return a 10-1 verdict if need be.
That verdict came within an hour.
As the guilty finding was announced, the defendant collapsed before regaining his feet and hurling abuse at the jury.
‘I’m innocent, I didn’t kill him,’ he shouted repeatedly.
‘I’m like you, I’m Australian.’
He then directed his anger at Justice Johnson before spitting across the courtroom in the direction of the jury.
‘You helped them, you gave them the chance to find me guilty.
‘You f***ing pigs.
‘You helped them, you are police dogs.’
After he was forcibly removed from the courtroom, Justice Johnson said he understood a criminal trial places pressure on all involved.
But the guilty man’s ‘torrent of abuse’ tended to provide an insight into him, the judge said.
‘He addressed the jury in a manner I must say I have not seen in my experience as a judge,’ Justice Johnson said.
‘(The jury) do not deserve to have been put through the experience which they have.’