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This story will make you think twice about meeting dealers and buyers in remote locations.
Two men who set up a fake drug deal to lure a cashed-up buyer to a remote place so they could kill him and his nephew and steal their money have been sentenced to life behind bars.
A Supreme Court jury last week found Trevor Harry Griffiths, 32, and Garry Allen Playford 38, guilty of the murders of Paul Black and his nephew, Adam Smith.
The men carried out the plot in New Beith, south of Brisbane, in January 2009.
Playford was also found guilty of unlawfully wounding a third man, Richard Brunelle, whom he shot in the leg during the incident.
Justice Glenn Martin sentenced both Griffiths and Playford to life imprisonment on Monday for the two murders and ordered they serve at least 20 years before being eligible for parole.
Playford was also sentenced to six years for the unlawful wounding conviction.
He received smaller sentences for a range of drugs and weapons offences, while Griffiths was also sentenced for a separate drug offence.
The drug offences relate to an underground hydroponic lab police found in a shipping container buried in Playford's yard while they were looking for the bodies of Mr Black and Mr Smith.
During a 15-day trial last month, the court heard Griffiths and Playford pretended to have 80 pounds (36.3kg) of cannabis, which they arranged to sell to Mr Black for $200,000.
They later agreed to sell half of it for $100,000 on the first occasion, and the rest on a subsequent day.
When Mr Black and Mr Smith arrived, Playford pulled out a sawn-off rifle that had been converted into a pistol and shot Mr Black once in the head and Mr Smith twice.
The court heard it was likely both men, who had bullets lodged in their brains, died immediately.
Prosecutor Ben Power told the court during sentencing that both victims' young children did not yet know how their fathers died.
"I understand that the families are still grappling with how they will tell the children about how their fathers died," he said.
"It is a very difficult problem to confront: whether to tell them, as I understand they've not been told because they are small children at present, that there was a death in a car accident or whether to tell them that their fathers have been murdered."
Justice Martin told the men that their actions had devastated their victims' families both emotionally and financially.
"I have read each of the victim impact statements," he told Playford and Griffiths.
"They are very moving and reveal the sad lives these families now lead."
Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/fake-drug-deal-killers-get-life-sentences-20120402-1w88b.html#ixzz1rKNe5600
Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/fake-drug-deal-killers-get-life-sentences-20120402-1w88b.html#ixzz1rKNSuHRj
Two men who set up a fake drug deal to lure a cashed-up buyer to a remote place so they could kill him and his nephew and steal their money have been sentenced to life behind bars.
A Supreme Court jury last week found Trevor Harry Griffiths, 32, and Garry Allen Playford 38, guilty of the murders of Paul Black and his nephew, Adam Smith.
The men carried out the plot in New Beith, south of Brisbane, in January 2009.
Playford was also found guilty of unlawfully wounding a third man, Richard Brunelle, whom he shot in the leg during the incident.
Justice Glenn Martin sentenced both Griffiths and Playford to life imprisonment on Monday for the two murders and ordered they serve at least 20 years before being eligible for parole.
Playford was also sentenced to six years for the unlawful wounding conviction.
He received smaller sentences for a range of drugs and weapons offences, while Griffiths was also sentenced for a separate drug offence.
The drug offences relate to an underground hydroponic lab police found in a shipping container buried in Playford's yard while they were looking for the bodies of Mr Black and Mr Smith.
During a 15-day trial last month, the court heard Griffiths and Playford pretended to have 80 pounds (36.3kg) of cannabis, which they arranged to sell to Mr Black for $200,000.
They later agreed to sell half of it for $100,000 on the first occasion, and the rest on a subsequent day.
When Mr Black and Mr Smith arrived, Playford pulled out a sawn-off rifle that had been converted into a pistol and shot Mr Black once in the head and Mr Smith twice.
The court heard it was likely both men, who had bullets lodged in their brains, died immediately.
Prosecutor Ben Power told the court during sentencing that both victims' young children did not yet know how their fathers died.
"I understand that the families are still grappling with how they will tell the children about how their fathers died," he said.
"It is a very difficult problem to confront: whether to tell them, as I understand they've not been told because they are small children at present, that there was a death in a car accident or whether to tell them that their fathers have been murdered."
Justice Martin told the men that their actions had devastated their victims' families both emotionally and financially.
"I have read each of the victim impact statements," he told Playford and Griffiths.
"They are very moving and reveal the sad lives these families now lead."
Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/fake-drug-deal-killers-get-life-sentences-20120402-1w88b.html#ixzz1rKNe5600
Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/fake-drug-deal-killers-get-life-sentences-20120402-1w88b.html#ixzz1rKNSuHRj