Farmhand Found Guilty of Murdering Western NSW Farmer
A jury has found Clinton Wrigley guilty of murdering farmer Joel Carter at his property near Nyngan in western New South Wales more than two years ago.
The 11-person jury returned a unanimous verdict on Monday, after deliberating since Thursday, concluding that Wrigley fatally bludgeoned 59-year-old Mr Carter at his Rosehill farm in January 2023.
Wrigley was also found guilty of stealing Mr Carter’s ute, which he later set alight on Old Warren Road, as well as taking and selling a number of Milwaukee-brand power tools belonging to the victim.
Mr Carter was killed late on January 22 or in the early hours of January 23. His body, which was in an advanced state of decomposition, was discovered by his son two days later on a metal-framed bed in his lounge room.
A post-mortem revealed that Mr Carter died from severe head injuries.
The trial, held over nearly six weeks, heard that Wrigley, employed as a truck driver and farmhand on a neighbouring property, made multiple admissions shortly after the killing.
Crown Prosecutor Michelle Swift told the jury that while the murder weapon was never identified, Wrigley told someone he had used a rubber mallet, comparing the act to putting down his dog with a hammer after it had been shot by police in 2012.
In an audio recording played in court, Wrigley told a colleague he felt no remorse: “I didn’t lose no sleep” and that Mr Carter “deserved it”.
“I was covered head to toe until I threw the match in the ute,” he said in the recording. “They can search everything I’ve got. I’ve burnt it all, even burnt my f**king boots.”
According to the prosecution, Wrigley mentioned a motive in the same conversation, claiming the “main thing” that drove him to murder was Mr Carter’s mistreatment of Wrigley’s sister-in-law.
However, during the trial, Wrigley described that as a “pretty bad reason” and claimed his earlier confessions were him “being a d***head”.
Prosecutors argued that his confessions, along with mobile phone data, CCTV footage, and witness testimony, helped construct a timeline linking Wrigley to the crime.
Supreme Court Justice Mark Ierace will schedule a sentencing date.
