Killers jailed for life over torture, murder

THREE murderers have been jailed for life over the sickening torture of a Gold Coast man that spanned days.

In December 2013, Shaun Barker, 33, was taken to a home at Cooloola Cove, near Gympie, after being picked up by a group of men at Pacific Fair shopping centre.

At a house at Cooloola Cove, Mr Barker was beaten, stuffed in an Esky and deprived of food and water, before being tied to a tree with honey smeared on his genitalia to attract ants.

The men also broke Mr Barker’s bones and at one stage dropped him in the Esky at height from a forklift.

His remains were found burnt in Toolara Forest, near where he was killed.

The depravity inflicted on him was revenge for a number of drugs that had gone missing.

William Francis Dean, 41, along with Stephen John Armitage, 48, and his son Matthew Leslie Armitage, 25, were given life behind bars yesterday, in Brisbane Supreme Court.

Each man had been found guilty of murder, torture and interfering with a corpse.

Matthew watched the torture play out and was charged with murder because he didn’t intervene. His eyes watered in the dock as Mr Barker’s sister Sheridan Mollenhauer told the packed court that her brother’s remains were found while she was on her honeymoon.

“To find out how he died was the worst possible nightmare,” she said. Outside court, she said: “It’s one of the best days of my life today.”

The trio will be eligible for parole after serving 20 years.