Esky abuse death: participant free
One of the men jailed for the manslaughter of a man who died after he was locked in a fishing Esky, fed drug-laced water and tied to a tree with honey on his genitalia has walked free from prison.
Matthew Leslie Armitage was freed from Woodford prison in January and served three months’ parole until his sentence expired on March 31.
He was jailed for eight years in February 2020 by Supreme Court Justice David Jackson, but this was reduced because he had about 3½ years in presentence custody between October 4, 2014 and February 21, 2018, which was declared time served.
His sentence was later cut to 9½ years on appeal.
Armitage, along with his father Stephen John Armitage, a commercial fisherman, and Toowoomba man William Francis Dean, were originally sentenced in 2018 to life in jail for the murder of Gold Coast drug dealer Shaun Barker.
But the Queensland Court of Appeal downgraded the murder conviction to manslaughter and dropped the torture charges.
Dean and Stephen Armitage were initially sentenced to 10 years’ jail for manslaughter but this was changed to 11 years and six months on appeal.
In mid December 2013, Dean kidnapped Barker from a Gold Coast petrol station with two other men before assaulting him.
Dean then drove Barker to Stephen Armitage’s Cooloola Cove house where the three men kept him locked in at least one fishing Esky at the back of the Armitage home over several days.
They were trying to find out about the location of drugs or money, as Barker had stolen drugs worth around $80,000 said to have belonged to another man.
He was fed water laced with the drug fantasy.
At some point Barker was taken into the state forest and tied to a tree.
A witness told the court that Dean and Matthew Armitage returned to a group and “put a container of honey down and laughed about the fact that they had just put honey on someone’s testicles and watched ants eat it off”.
Barker died as a result of his abuse and assaults but because his burnt remains were found four months later in April 2014 in the Toolara State Forest near Tin Can Bay, the exact cause of death was unable to be declared.
Matthew Armitage worked with his dad in his dad’s fishing business and lived with him prior to the manslaughter of Barker. In early 2014, he moved to NSW for work and formed a new relationship.
This continued until he was remanded in custody in October 2014.
Stephen Armitage remains in Woodford prison and is due for release in April 2026.
Dean’s parole eligibility date is fixed at April 29, 2026.