Driven by evil and greed
SHE had an unnatural interest in violence and seeing people die. Now former Gold Coaster Brittney Dwyer will spend at least 21 years in jail for the “evil” and unexplained murder of her grandfather.
Supreme Court Justice Kevin Nicholson yesterday sentenced the 20-year-old to life imprisonment with a nonparole period of 21 years for the murder of her 81-year-old grandfather Robert Whitwell at his home at Craigmore, in Adelaide’s outer north, in August 2016. She will be eligible for parole at the age of 40.
Her friend Bernadette Burns was sentenced to life imprisonment with a nonparole period of 13½ years for her part in the murder.
Outside court, the victim’s brother, Geoffrey Whitwell, said the sentence was appropriate and it now allowed the family to heal.
“I think the presiding judge did a good job,” he said.
“It has been a difficult time. We support one another and we’re there for one another as a family. We’re just glad it’s all over, we can get closure and let the healing begin.
“You couldn’t get a better brother than Robert – he was truly a gentleman.”
Dwyer and Burns drove from Ormeau to Mr Whitwell’s home. Burns sat outside in the car applying her makeup while Dwyer stabbed her grandfather, shortly after he had shown her family photos.
The pair were planning on robbing him of his life savings – $111,000, which was hidden in his shed and house.
Justice Nicholson described the offending as “evil” and “abhorrent”, saying it was difficult to determine Dwyer’s capacity for remorse.
“It’s not possible to adequately summarise the enormity of the distress and profound anguish that these members of the Whitwell and Dwyer families have no doubt ... suffered,” he said.
“The whole affair is, of course, a tragedy on two fronts.
“The very same people who have been very badly damaged by the sudden and violent end of Mr Whitwell, who was greatly loved and respected, are simply shattered by the fact it was such a close member of the family who so callously and brutally murdered him.”
He said Dwyer was influenced by her drug-taking and involvement with a criminal subculture, her poor capacity to empathise, an unnatural interest in violence and seeing people die, and basic greed for money.
“One remains at a loss as to how a young woman ... would do what you did,” he said. “This murder was brutal, callous, cold-blooded.”
Last month the court heard Dwyer was motivated by robbery but was also influenced by TV show American Horror Story.
Her mother, Tonya Dwyer, has previously said her daughter had an obsession with graveyards and “dark things”, which set her on a macabre path.
She said Dwyer and her girlfriend, Shelby Lee Angie Holmes, also a former Gold Coast student, both had a fascination with knives and violence in the lead-up to the murder.
“I think they are a little bit dark, as in they would do things in cemeteries and go to cemetery tours and dark things,” Ms Dwyer said.
“There were some things with blood and knives. I think they had a bit of an obsession with some dark stuff.”
Dwyer pleaded guilty to the murder one month after her arrest. Burns pleaded guilty in August 2017 to murder without intent.
Holmes was given a 17month suspended sentence for trespassing at Mr Whitwell’s home in April 2016.