Life jail for monster
Mother confronts daughter’s murderer
TARA Brown’s mother confronted the man who murdered her daughter and bravely put into words her despair before he was sentenced to life in jail.
Lionel Patea, 25, could barely look at Natalie Hinton as she described him as a “selfcentred monster” and a “misogynistic narcissist” while more than 50 supporters looked on in the Brisbane Supreme Court yesterday.
“This brutal monster stripped Tara of at least 60 years of her life, her identity, her dignity,” Ms Hinton said, reading her victim impact statement to the court.
“Our whole family has been robbed ... because of this selfish and inhumane act.
“Tara’s death has impacted on our nation ... the appalling cost of human lives to domestic and family violence has become a national tragedy of crisis proportions.”
Patea, a former bikie, pleaded guilty to murder, unlawful use of a motor vehicle, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and breaching a domestic violence order.
The plea came on the same day a trial was scheduled to begin, saving Ms Brown’s distraught family from repeatedly hearing the details of how Patea ran her car off a Gold Coast suburban street and bludgeoned her to death with a metal fire hydrant cover on September 8, 2015.
Patea followed her after she dropped their daughter at daycare about 8.30am at speeds of up to 100km/h, enraged after Ms Brown obtained domestic violence and custody orders against him.
A harrowing triple-0 call made by Ms Brown, 24, in the moments before her car was run off the road captured the despicable attack.
As she screamed for help, she said she feared he was going to stab her.
“I’m in Molendinar! I’m in Molendinar!” she shouted down the phone.
There were sounds of the crash and Ms Brown wailed “help me, help me”.
The operator listened helplessly and heard 16 “thumping sounds”, then the voice of witness Leesa Kennedy asking Patea “what the f--k are you doing”.
There were another 13 thumps. Then silence.
Patea left the fire hydrant cover on Ms Brown’s face and walked away.
Justice Mullins sentenced Patea to mandatory life imprisonment, which in Queensland is a minimum of 20 years behind bars before being eligible for parole.