PATEA’S CUZZIE BLOW

LIONEL Patea’s lawyer has questioned the sentence given to the man who planned the beating that killed Greg Dufty and burnt his corpse.

Aaron John Crawford, 30, could walk out of jail in just five years despite him being the one who gathered the group of six men to beat the father-of-two to death.

Crawford accused Mr Dufty of stealing cannabis worth $32,000 they had grown together.

Crawford pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was yesterday sentenced to 10 years prison with parole eligibility in November 2023.

His co-accused and cousin, former bikie kingpin Lionel Patea, who pleaded guilty to murder, will not be released until at least 2048 after he was given a life sentence.

Patea was given another life sentence in February last year after pleading guilty to murdering former girlfriend Tara Brown with a fire hydrant cover.

Patea’s brother, Nelson, also pleaded guilty to manslaughter for the death of Mr Dufty. He was sentenced to eight years jail, to be released as early as January next year. He has been in custody since May 2016.

The Pateas’ lawyer, Campbell MacCallum, of Moloney MacCallum Abdelshahied Lawyers, said Crawford’s sentence was a “most unusual outcome”.

“From the beginning of the investigation those who implicated themselves and then ultimately the Pateas were the ones who got off extremely lightly in terms of their involvement,” he said.

“It’s clear that the planners of the assault and the ones who disposed of the body have been involved from the beginning until the end with the investigators of the offence.

“Not surprisingly, they were able to minimise and lie about the extent of their involvement in the incident and therefore benefit with reduced charges and sentences.”

Sources told the Bulletin Lionel Patea only pleaded guilty to murdering Mr Dufty to ensure his younger brother’s charge was downgraded to manslaughter.

When Mr Dufty died on June 6, 2015 as a result of the beating, Crawford threatened co-accused Clinton Stockman’s family if he did not help dispose of the body.

During yesterday’s sentencing in the Supreme Court of Queensland in Brisbane, Justice Martin Burns slammed Crawford for showing no remorse even after pleading guilty to manslaughter.

“Despite all of the submissions I have not heard one word of regret or remorse expressed on your behalf,” he said. “That is your enduring shame.”

Mr Burns said the way Crawford had threatened Stockman’s family to convince him to help move the body and the way the body was disposed of was “despicable”.

Crawford drove Mr Dufty to a remote location in the Gold Coast Hinterland where they were met by the Pateas, Stockman and co-accused Liam Bliss. Both Stockman and Bliss pleaded guilty to manslaughter in February.

Another man was also there. However, he cannot be named for legal reasons.

Stockman and Bliss told police they had seen Lionel Patea strike Mr Dufty first, with a single hit to the head with a 40cm shifting spanner.

Crawford then used a tyre checker, a metal object similar to a small baseball bat, to hit Mr Dufty around the legs and the others, including Nelson Patea, punched and kicked him.

“Bite the (expletive) hand that feeds you,” Crawford said to Dufty.

The assault lasted about two minutes.

When Mr Dufty was unconscious, Crawford and Stockman handcuffed him with zip ties and loaded him on to a track and took him to a truck yard.

After the beating, Lionel Patea called the pair and told them they should take Mr Dufty to the hospital.

At one point Crawford splashed water on Mr Dufty and said: “Wake up you dog, I’ve got a lot of torture in store for you.”

Mr Dufty later died and Crawford threatened Stockman’s family in order to get him to help dispose of the body.

The pair loaded Mr Dufty’s body onto a tarpaulin on a truck, covered it in rocks and then took it to Crawford’s farm in northern New South Wales.

His body was then burnt in a massive five which left no trace of Mr Dufty’s remains when police searched the area in February 2016.

During the court proceedings an apology from Nelson Patea was read out to the court.

“It was not my intention to hurt or injure him,” he wrote.

He wrote that what he did was “not forgivable” and he did not ask for forgiveness.

“I hope you hear from my heart this was unintended and cost a life.”

Justice Martin Burns said he took into account the remorse Nelson Patea had shown into account during sentencing.