Family to find closure after brutal murder
THIS morning in the Supreme Court, a family’s agonising wait for justice will end and the wounds of losing a loved one in a horrific murder will begin to heal.
Yesterday a jury found Kynan Devenna guilty of the brutal stabbing murder of former partner Sarahjane Dower in Ayr in 2012.
The jury ruled Devenna, who claimed he wanted to spend more time with his children, attacked Dower from behind, stabbing her in the neck and watching her bleed to death, telling her, “You’re going to die, I’m not calling an ambulance”, before stabbing her again.
Devenna initially pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter, but the prosecution refused to downgrade the murder charge. He pleaded not guilty to murder.
What was not disputed were the grisly details of what happened after the murder.
After ensuring Dower was dead, Devenna put her body in her ute, drove it up to High Range, doused it and the body in fuel – for which he had borrowed money from a mate – before setting it alight. He then returned the next day and set it on fire again.
Devenna’s defence team argued he was a changed man after serving deployments to East Timor and Afghanistan, that he was not rational at the time of the killing and that he may have gone into “army mode”.
But the jury rejected those arguments and in doing so have revealed a cold, calculating killer who has refused to take responsibility for a premeditated, cruel and brutal murder.
It is almost three years since the Dower family lost Sarahjane and two children lost their mum. Hopefully, with justice to be served today, their healing can finally begin. MH17 video damning evidence DAMNING footage showing Russian- backed separatists ransacking the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in Ukraine last year must surely refocus the probe into who was responsible for taking 298 innocent lives, including 38 Australians.
The 17- minute video, uncovered by News Corp Australia newspapers today, will surely lead authorities to question Russia’s persistent denials of involvement and unfortunately confirm what many have long suspected.