Kiwi triple murderer to spend life in jail
A New Zealander has been sentenced to life in prison after killing his three neighbours over a driveway dispute.
Ian Jamieson, 65, pleaded guilty to murdering his neighbours Peter Lockhart, 78, Mary Lockhart, 75 and her son Gregory Holmes, 48, in 2014 in Victoria, Australia.
At his sentencing on Friday at the Victorian Supreme Court on Friday, Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth said it was ‘‘highly likely’’ Jamieson would die in custody.
‘‘You sought out each of your unarmed victims at night, on their own properties where they should have felt safe,’’ she said.
‘‘You callously shot your elderly victims from close range multiple times ... without warning and without provocation.
‘‘You have not shown the slightest remorse for your appalling crimes. Even now you continue to blame your victims for what happened.’’
The dispute was linked to arguments Jamieson and Holmes were having about the use of a track between the neighbours’ houses in Wedderburn, a small town north-west of Bendigo, the court had heard.
Jamieson was angry that Holmes’ use of the track was causing dust to spread into his property, onto his house and into his water supply.
On the day of the murders, Holmes had driven a tractor along the track.
‘‘Over time you became utterly obsessed with their use of the road reserve,’’ said.
‘‘You expressed no regret and remorse for your actions. You killed the Lockharts for no reason, other than your longstanding animosity towards them.’’
Police received the first reports of gunfire on the Lockharts’ property at 8.20pm on October 23, 2014.
Holmes was found by police officers in a paddock in front of his house.
He had been stabbed times in the back, back head, neck and chest.
Holmes had survived for some time after the attack, and had cried out to some nearby campers.
By then, Jamieson had returned home, taken two shotguns and a large amount of ammunition and Justice Hollingworth several of the driven to the Lockharts’ house.
‘‘I thought, ‘Well, bugger it, I’m gone. I might as well go and kill the other ones,’’’ he later told police, the judge said.
After officers arrived at the property, they heard two gunshots. Jamieson had shot the Lockharts at close range a number of times.
The court earlier heard Jamieson called emergency services, telling an operator: ‘‘I’ve just killed three people.’’
Prosecutors had called for him to spend the rest of his life in prison.
During his trial, Jamieson made several unusual decisions, including sacking his lawyers twice.
He also claimed he had been stabbed in the leg with a drugfilled syringe by Holmes.
The dispute had evolved despite Jamieson initially getting along well with Holmes and the Lockharts.
But animosity started to grow over the use of a dirt road adjoining Jamieson’s property.
As drought conditions worsened, Lockhart started to use the track more often to gain access to a dam for his water truck.
The court heard Jamieson had ‘‘felt aggrieved’’, who thought Lockhart was ‘‘taunting’’ him when he would drive past the property in his tractor.
Jamieson believed the tractor was causing dust to ‘‘pollute’’ his water.
Paul Holmes, Greg’s brother, said after the sentence that he wanted his relatives to be remembered as people who were loved.