Meth user handed hefty jail term for cop's car killing
Reagan Ainslie Chown, 25, was convicted of manslaughter over the late-night June 8, 2023 incident that led to Constable Anthony Woods' death.
He was sentenced in the Western Australian Supreme Court on Thursday to a head sentence of 15 years and six months, and a minimum term of 13 years and six months.
Const Woods' mother Natalie said her heart was "ripped" away the day her son died.
"My beautiful son Anthony was so full of life, energy and ambition," she said as she read her victim impact statement to the court.
"He was doing his duty and he was protecting his community and his future was taken away."
Ms Woods said her family continued to suffer and "each anniversary, birthday and any moment we shared with him is now painful for us".
"Whatever he did, he had a great passion ... he was larger than life, but his love for his family was number one," she said.
Chown and two others fled from police in a stolen Holden Cruz in a high-speed chase before turning into a cul-de-sac and coming to a stop.
Const Woods, 28, opened the driver's door and tried to detain Chown, who was behind the steering wheel with the engine running.
Chown put the car into reverse and accelerated in a bid to escape.
The officer fired his Taser into the moving car before falling and being dragged under the vehicle, where he became trapped.
CCTV footage played during the trial in May showed the Holden reversing at speed, mounting a kerb and stopping after it hit a bollard.
During the video, Const Woods can be heard twice saying "stay where you are" and "Taser" as the vehicle moved backwards.
The officer died several days after the incident from complications of cardiac arrest caused by mechanical compression of the chest and abdomen.
Chown was under the influence of methamphetamine and in possession of the drug when the incident happened.
During his trial, he argued he was not responsible for the tragedy because the officer shot him with a Taser and it caused him to lose control of a stolen car.
Justice Joseph McGrath said Chown intended to flee police and ignored the officer's lawful commands.
"Undoubtedly, the Taser caused you pain and discomfort, but your course of conduct was set and it was done consciously and deliberately," he said.
"Even if you were not tasered, you would have reversed and that was your intention."
Const Woods, who had just passed his probation, was farewelled before about 2000 police officers, family, friends and dignitaries at Perth's Optus Stadium.
Chown was initially accused of murder but the charge was downgraded to manslaughter a week before his trial.
He was also convicted of stealing the car and reckless driving to escape police and was also sentenced for those offences.
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Perth Now
2 hours ago
- Perth Now
'Large sentence' awaits triple-murderer mushroom cook
After enduring her first night in prison as a convicted triple murderer, Erin Patterson might spent the rest of her days behind bars. The 50-year-old mother of two was found guilty of three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder on Monday after a long trial. Her estranged husband Simon's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, 70, and aunty Heather Wilkinson, 66, all died in hospital days after Patterson served them beef Wellington parcels laced with death cap mushrooms in July 2023. Heather's husband Ian Wilkinson was the sole survivor. There was a shout of "murderer" as Patterson was driven out of the court precinct to prison in Melbourne on Monday evening. The jury's guilty verdicts came seven days after they were sent away to deliberate and 11 weeks into the trial in the Victorian town of Morwell. Brianna Chesser, a clinical forensic psychologist and criminal lawyer, said she was not surprised by the outcome. She argued Patterson's testimony across eight days on the witness stand, as well as circumstantial evidence, likely proved critical to convincing the jury beyond reasonable doubt. "Whenever you have any lies in a trial it is quite a difficult thing to overcome from a defence perspective," the associate professor in criminology and justice at RMIT University told AAP. "What came out regarding the mushrooms was almost insurmountable. "When you've got particular searches on your phone and a dehydrator that you had and didn't have, it really speaks to the unusualness of the circumstances." The story had captivated the world because of the method, as well as the now-convicted murderer being a woman when the vast majority of homicides were perpetrated by men, Dr Chesser said. Patterson faces a sentence of life in prison for the three murders and one attempted murder and is expected to return to court for a pre-sentence hearing later in 2025. Options for appeal were usually restricted to points of law, a "massive" error in fact or new evidence, Dr Chesser said. "It's going to be quite a large sentence," she said. "We've heard during the cross examination and examination in chief that there's some mental health concerns for Ms Patterson. "That may well act a mitigating factor in any sort of sentence. "We're also dealing with someone who's a middle-aged woman who has never offended before in their life and we've got four of the most serious crimes in Victoria being committed." Within hours of the verdict, the Supreme Court released dozens of pieces of evidence that helped prosecutors secure the convictions. They included photos showing remnants of beef Wellington leftovers as they were tested by toxicologists, after police found them inside a bin at Patterson's home A video of Patterson discharging herself from Leongatha Hospital minutes after she had arrived was also released, while images of her at the hospital revealed a pink phone police say they never recovered. Prosecutors said this was Patterson's primary phone in 2023 and claimed she had used it to find death cap mushrooms online.
Perth Now
10 hours ago
- Perth Now
Mushroom cook a multi-millionaire
Over the course of a weeks-long murder trial, Erin Patterson was described as many things; a multi-millionaire and generous in-law, a devoted mother-of-two and a cold-blooded killer. The unassuming Victorian woman drew the world's attention after three of her husband's family died from a poisoned meal and a fourth fought his way back from death's door. Details about Patterson's life were revealed by those who knew her best as the Supreme Court trial played out in the regional town of Morwell over the last four months. She had pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, with her defence arguing the poisoning was a tragic accident. Erin Patterson maintained she did not intentionally harm anyone. Brooke Grebert-Craig. Credit: Supplied At trial, prosecutors argued Patterson intentionally sourced death cap mushrooms, the most poisonous known fungi, and included them in the beef wellington lunch intending to kill or at least seriously injure her four guests. Don and Gail Patterson, her husband Simon Patterson's parents, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson died in the week after the lunch on July 29, 2023. Gail's husband Ian Wilkinson recovered after a lengthy stay in hospital. On X, jurors returned to the Latrobe Valley law court and returned unanimous guilty verdicts on all four charges following X days of deliberations. Erin Patterson's parents in law Don and Gail Patterson. Supplied. Credit: Supplied During the trial, jurors heard Patterson first met her husband in the early 2000s when they were both working at the Monash city council. She was an administrative assistant engaged by animal welfare charity the RSPCA while Simon was a civil engineer at the council. Giving evidence, Simon said they got to know each other as part of a 'fairly eclectic' group of friends from the council before developing a romantic relationship. 'Erin is very intelligent. I guess some of the things that attracted me to her in the first place was definitely her intelligence. She is quite witty and can be quite funny,' he said. She remains married to Simon Patterson. NewsWire / David Geraghty Credit: News Corp Australia The jury heard Patterson had worked as an accountant and as an air traffic controller at Melbourne's Tullamarine airport prior to meeting Simon. Patterson told the court she met Simon in 2004 and they began dating in July the following year. She said she first met his parents, Don and Gail Patterson, in about March or April 2005 while on a camping trip with Simon and a few friends and they stopped in at his parents. Patterson described herself as a 'fundamentalist atheist' and initially sought to convert Simon, a devout Christian, but ' things happened in reverse and I became a Christian'. She pointed to a 'spiritual experience' while on that camping trip when they attended a service at Korumburra Baptist Church where Simon's uncle, Ian Wilkinson, was pastor. I'd been approaching religion as an intellectual exercise up until that point,' Patterson said. 'But I had what I would call a religious experience there and it quite overwhelmed me.' Ian Wilkinson survived the lunch. NewsWire / Diego Fedele Credit: News Corp Australia The Korumburra Baptist Church where Mr Wilkinson has been pastor for two decades. NewsWire / Josie Hayden Credit: News Corp Australia Simon told the court a month after their wedding on June 2, 2007, the pair set off on a cross-country trip. 'We planned, before we married, to pack up everything, get a four-wheel drive and drive across Australia and camp in tents, which we did,' he said. Their wedding was held under a marquee at Don and Gail's Korumburra home, with Simon's cousin, David Wilkinson, walking her down the aisle. Patterson told the jury her parents did not attend as they were on a holiday crossing Russia by train. By late 2007, Simon said, they settled down in Perth where he found work at a local council. The jury heard their first child, a son, was born in January 2009, with Patterson describing the birth as 'very traumatic'. On the stand, she said she developed a mistrust of doctors and questioned if they knew what they were doing. The couple also took a number of international holidays, including to New Zealand and Africa. Supplied. Credit: Supplied Patterson said Don and Gail came to stay with them after the birth, saying Gail was 'really supportive, and gentle and patient with me'. 'I remember being really relieved that Gail was there because I felt really out of my depth,' she said. A few months later the family packed up again heading north and covering the top end of Australia. After months of travel, Patterson said she'd had a 'gutful' and elected to fly back to Perth from Townsville leaving Simon and their son to drive back. 'It had been a good holiday but I'd had enough. I wanted to sleep in a real bed,' she said. The jury heard this led to the couple's first separation, in late 2009, for 'about six months' with Patterson and their son living in a rental while Simon lived nearby in a caravan. 'What I understood from Erin was that she was struggling inside herself,' Simon said. The couple underwent marriage counselling and the family reunited after Simon moved to the wheatbelt town of York for work as a council civil engineer. For a time, the couple also lived in Quinninup, in Western Australia's southwest, and Patterson started a second hand book shop in Pemberton which she operated in 2011 and 2012. Giving evidence, Simon said there were a few other periods of short separation while the pair lived in Western Australia before they returned to Victoria in 2013. Patterson's second child, a girl, was born in 2014, and the couple purchased a home in Korumburra to be close to Simon's family the same year. Simon's sister, Anna Terrington, said she developed a strong bond with Patterson because they were both pregnant at the same time. She gave evidence their children, born three days apart, were known in the family as 'the twins'. Anna and Josh Terrington, with sibling Matthew Patterson (right). NewsWire/Ian Currie Credit: News Corp Australia Many of Simon's family members called in the trial described Patterson as a devoted mother to her two children. The couple separated for a final time in late 2015, the jury heard. Asked about the separation, Patterson said she believed the key issue in their relationship was communication but that Simon and her remained close and co-operative in the following years. 'Primarily what we struggled with over the entire course of our relationship … we just couldn't communicate well when we disagreed about something,' she said. 'We could never communicate in a way that made each of us feel heard or understood, so we would just feel hurt and not know how to resolve it.' Patterson told the court after their separation, she remained close to Simon's parents and continued to attend family events. 'It never changed. I was just their daughter-in-law and they just continued to love me,' she said. A court sketch of Erin Patterson during the trial. NewsWire / Paul Tyquin Credit: News Corp Australia The jury heard Patterson received a large inheritance after her grandmother's death in 2006, with disbursements paid out twice annually until 2015. Simon agreed Patterson was 'very generous' with the money, with the couple lending hundreds of thousands of dollars to each of his three siblings and their partners interest free. 'We wouldn't have been able to do it without those inheritances,' he said. 'Money has not been the most important motivation to either Erin or me in our decisions.' He said he believed it totalled roughly $2 million. Patterson also received another large inheritance in 2019 after her mother's death split her estate between her two daughters. The jury heard Patterson used part of this money to buy a block of land at Gibson St, Leongatha, where she built her family home and the location of the deadly lunch. Living on the 3 acre block in the small dairy town, Patterson said she kept animals including sheep and goats. Erin Patterson's home in Leongatha. NewsWire / Diego Fedele. Credit: News Corp Australia Despite their separation four years earlier, Patterson titled both the Gibson St property and a home in the Melbourne suburb of Glen Waverley as shared ownership with her husband. Simon told the court he viewed this at the time as a sign Patterson remained committed to the family unit and was hopeful they would reconcile. He said he believed Patterson had struggled with her self-image for many years although she never explicitly said this to him. On the stand, Patterson said she had body-image issues since childhood and struggled with her weight. 'I tried every diet under the sun,' she said. 'When I was a kid, mum would weigh us every week to make sure we weren't putting on too much weight.' Patterson told the court she had engaged in binge eating and purging since her 20s but no one knew. The jury heard from three witnesses who came to know Patterson in 2020 through an online true crime Facebook group that splintered off into a social chat during the Covid pandemic and continued into 2023. Non-profit manager Christine Hunt said Patterson had made a name for herself in the group as a 'super-sleuth', able to dig up details about true crime cases they discussed. Stay at home mum Daniela Barkley said she believed Patterson to be a wonderful mother, but recalled she vented about problems with Simon and his family. Daniela Barkley said she formed the view Simon was not a nice man from Patterson's posts. NewsWire / Diego Fedele Credit: News Corp Australia A series of messages Patterson sent to the group between December 6 and 9 in 2022, captured her complaining about her husband and his family. 'I'm sick of this s--t I want nothing to do with them. I thought his parents would want him to do the right thing but it seems their concern about not wanting to feel uncomfortable and not wanting to get involved in their son's personal matters are overriding that so f--k em,' one message read. Patterson told the jury she regrets the messages, but her defence noted they needed to be viewed in the proper context of a woman venting to her support network. Giving evidence, Simon told the jury they remained friendly and committed to co-parenting their two children but he first noticed a change in their relationship in late 2022. He said he believed this was after Patterson noticed he'd been listed as separated for the first time in his tax return and he understood the change to have financial implications. Simon Patterson was the first witness called in the trial. NewsWire / Luis Enrique Ascui Credit: News Corp Australia Patterson disagreed, saying while there was a change in the relationship, it occurred weeks later after Simon began to refuse to contribute to their children's schooling and medical costs. 'I wasn't upset, because him listing himself as single on his tax return meant I now have the opportunity to claim family tax benefit that I had been denied before,' she said. Simon said after the tax return, Patterson had filed a child support claim and he'd been instructed by authorities not to pay for things until a financial agreement was reached. Both agreed tensions had cooled down by the end of 2022 but their relationship became 'functional' after this point. She will return to court at a later date.
The Advertiser
12 hours ago
- The Advertiser
From 'stress less' to vicious murder in a rural town
Hours after he was seen at a rural RSL club sipping beer, dancing and wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with "stress less", Roger James Kilby viciously beat a man to death. Kilby, 40, has pleaded guilty to murdering Andrew John Anthoney in Peak Hill, central western NSW, on March 11, 2023, nine days after stealing a mobile phone from the victim's house during a drinking session. In the days between the theft and the murder, Kilby told friends he found child abuse material on the phone and accused Mr Anthoney of being a pedophile, according to a statement of facts before the NSW Supreme Court. After being arrested and freed on bail for an unrelated crime on March 11, Kilby went to the Peak Hill RSL, where he was seen drinking, smoking, dancing and singing to himself. He then walked to Mr Anthoney's house to confront him about the images he claimed were on the stolen phone and the pair had an argument. Kilby punched and stomped on Mr Anthoney several times, leaving him bleeding and unconscious near the kitchen. "I think I've killed someone," Kilby was heard saying as he ran away from the house. Kilby's cousins told police the long-time drug user had been "off his head" on ice and was acting strange in the days before the murder. Public defender Nicholas Broadbent SC on Monday told the Supreme Court the killing was not an act of vigilantism, as suggested by prosecutors. "The court could not be satisfied Mr Kilby entered the house with the intention of taking the law into his own hands," Mr Broadbent told the court, sitting in Orange. "There was an argument which then escalated. Mr Kilby states that he just lost it." Kilby grew up in a violent home and was exposed to drugs from a young age, going on to develop a "conduct disorder" that led to anti-social behaviour, according to a psychologist's report. While on remand at the Macquarie Correctional Centre in Wellington, Kilby had made personal progress, obtaining engineering qualifications, participating in cultural groups and becoming the jail's Aboriginal delegate. In a handwritten letter to the court, Kilby acknowledged the pain he caused Mr Anthoney's family and his own. "I hope one day I can show that I can be a better man," he wrote. Mr Anthoney's sister Katrina read a brief victim impact statement, saying the killing in "dire" circumstances had shattered their family. "It's a real life tragedy for all involved and such a shocking and senseless death," Ms Anthoney said. "His family are the quiet voices who are saying: our loss is not OK in a civil society." Justice Dina Yehia will sentence Kilby on July 14. Hours after he was seen at a rural RSL club sipping beer, dancing and wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with "stress less", Roger James Kilby viciously beat a man to death. Kilby, 40, has pleaded guilty to murdering Andrew John Anthoney in Peak Hill, central western NSW, on March 11, 2023, nine days after stealing a mobile phone from the victim's house during a drinking session. In the days between the theft and the murder, Kilby told friends he found child abuse material on the phone and accused Mr Anthoney of being a pedophile, according to a statement of facts before the NSW Supreme Court. After being arrested and freed on bail for an unrelated crime on March 11, Kilby went to the Peak Hill RSL, where he was seen drinking, smoking, dancing and singing to himself. He then walked to Mr Anthoney's house to confront him about the images he claimed were on the stolen phone and the pair had an argument. Kilby punched and stomped on Mr Anthoney several times, leaving him bleeding and unconscious near the kitchen. "I think I've killed someone," Kilby was heard saying as he ran away from the house. Kilby's cousins told police the long-time drug user had been "off his head" on ice and was acting strange in the days before the murder. Public defender Nicholas Broadbent SC on Monday told the Supreme Court the killing was not an act of vigilantism, as suggested by prosecutors. "The court could not be satisfied Mr Kilby entered the house with the intention of taking the law into his own hands," Mr Broadbent told the court, sitting in Orange. "There was an argument which then escalated. Mr Kilby states that he just lost it." Kilby grew up in a violent home and was exposed to drugs from a young age, going on to develop a "conduct disorder" that led to anti-social behaviour, according to a psychologist's report. While on remand at the Macquarie Correctional Centre in Wellington, Kilby had made personal progress, obtaining engineering qualifications, participating in cultural groups and becoming the jail's Aboriginal delegate. In a handwritten letter to the court, Kilby acknowledged the pain he caused Mr Anthoney's family and his own. "I hope one day I can show that I can be a better man," he wrote. Mr Anthoney's sister Katrina read a brief victim impact statement, saying the killing in "dire" circumstances had shattered their family. "It's a real life tragedy for all involved and such a shocking and senseless death," Ms Anthoney said. "His family are the quiet voices who are saying: our loss is not OK in a civil society." Justice Dina Yehia will sentence Kilby on July 14. Hours after he was seen at a rural RSL club sipping beer, dancing and wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with "stress less", Roger James Kilby viciously beat a man to death. Kilby, 40, has pleaded guilty to murdering Andrew John Anthoney in Peak Hill, central western NSW, on March 11, 2023, nine days after stealing a mobile phone from the victim's house during a drinking session. In the days between the theft and the murder, Kilby told friends he found child abuse material on the phone and accused Mr Anthoney of being a pedophile, according to a statement of facts before the NSW Supreme Court. After being arrested and freed on bail for an unrelated crime on March 11, Kilby went to the Peak Hill RSL, where he was seen drinking, smoking, dancing and singing to himself. He then walked to Mr Anthoney's house to confront him about the images he claimed were on the stolen phone and the pair had an argument. Kilby punched and stomped on Mr Anthoney several times, leaving him bleeding and unconscious near the kitchen. "I think I've killed someone," Kilby was heard saying as he ran away from the house. Kilby's cousins told police the long-time drug user had been "off his head" on ice and was acting strange in the days before the murder. Public defender Nicholas Broadbent SC on Monday told the Supreme Court the killing was not an act of vigilantism, as suggested by prosecutors. "The court could not be satisfied Mr Kilby entered the house with the intention of taking the law into his own hands," Mr Broadbent told the court, sitting in Orange. "There was an argument which then escalated. Mr Kilby states that he just lost it." Kilby grew up in a violent home and was exposed to drugs from a young age, going on to develop a "conduct disorder" that led to anti-social behaviour, according to a psychologist's report. While on remand at the Macquarie Correctional Centre in Wellington, Kilby had made personal progress, obtaining engineering qualifications, participating in cultural groups and becoming the jail's Aboriginal delegate. In a handwritten letter to the court, Kilby acknowledged the pain he caused Mr Anthoney's family and his own. "I hope one day I can show that I can be a better man," he wrote. Mr Anthoney's sister Katrina read a brief victim impact statement, saying the killing in "dire" circumstances had shattered their family. "It's a real life tragedy for all involved and such a shocking and senseless death," Ms Anthoney said. "His family are the quiet voices who are saying: our loss is not OK in a civil society." Justice Dina Yehia will sentence Kilby on July 14. Hours after he was seen at a rural RSL club sipping beer, dancing and wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with "stress less", Roger James Kilby viciously beat a man to death. Kilby, 40, has pleaded guilty to murdering Andrew John Anthoney in Peak Hill, central western NSW, on March 11, 2023, nine days after stealing a mobile phone from the victim's house during a drinking session. In the days between the theft and the murder, Kilby told friends he found child abuse material on the phone and accused Mr Anthoney of being a pedophile, according to a statement of facts before the NSW Supreme Court. After being arrested and freed on bail for an unrelated crime on March 11, Kilby went to the Peak Hill RSL, where he was seen drinking, smoking, dancing and singing to himself. He then walked to Mr Anthoney's house to confront him about the images he claimed were on the stolen phone and the pair had an argument. Kilby punched and stomped on Mr Anthoney several times, leaving him bleeding and unconscious near the kitchen. "I think I've killed someone," Kilby was heard saying as he ran away from the house. Kilby's cousins told police the long-time drug user had been "off his head" on ice and was acting strange in the days before the murder. Public defender Nicholas Broadbent SC on Monday told the Supreme Court the killing was not an act of vigilantism, as suggested by prosecutors. "The court could not be satisfied Mr Kilby entered the house with the intention of taking the law into his own hands," Mr Broadbent told the court, sitting in Orange. "There was an argument which then escalated. Mr Kilby states that he just lost it." Kilby grew up in a violent home and was exposed to drugs from a young age, going on to develop a "conduct disorder" that led to anti-social behaviour, according to a psychologist's report. While on remand at the Macquarie Correctional Centre in Wellington, Kilby had made personal progress, obtaining engineering qualifications, participating in cultural groups and becoming the jail's Aboriginal delegate. In a handwritten letter to the court, Kilby acknowledged the pain he caused Mr Anthoney's family and his own. "I hope one day I can show that I can be a better man," he wrote. Mr Anthoney's sister Katrina read a brief victim impact statement, saying the killing in "dire" circumstances had shattered their family. "It's a real life tragedy for all involved and such a shocking and senseless death," Ms Anthoney said. "His family are the quiet voices who are saying: our loss is not OK in a civil society." Justice Dina Yehia will sentence Kilby on July 14.
