A 60-year-old Australian man has been sentenced to 31 years in prison in New South Wales for the murder of Damien Conlon, who was originally from Sligo.
Luke Simon killed Mr Conlon (38) - who was engaged to his daughter Linda - just days before the couple were to be married, the murder trial was told.
Mr Conlon had been living in Australia for almost 12 years and had two children with his fiancee, who had two further children form a previous marriage.
The court in Australia heard that Simon had lured his potential son-in-law to his home on Jenolan Street in Oberon, a rural New South Wales town about 200km from Sydney, about 8am local time on Thursday February 9th, 2023.
Simon had said some property belonging to Mr Conlon which had been stored in the house, had gone missing, the court was told.
But CCTV footage from the house showed that when Mr Conlon arrived, Simon had a brief conversation with him before ordering Mr Conlon to his knees and shooting him in the head saying: “Bye, bye, Damien”.
The court was told there was a deal between Simon and his daughter that he would move to a granny flat on the side of his home, while Linda and Damien and the four children would move into the main house.
However, the court heard that after Linda wrote to her father asking him to move out so that Mr Conlon could construct the granny flat, relations soured.
In the CCTV footage, Simon could be seen going to a gun cabinet two days before the killing and selecting a pistol while remarking out loud “that’s the one that’s going to put him to sleep.”
The CCTV at the property recorded Mr Conlon lying on the ground at the front step of the property at 7.56am on February 9th.
The alarm was raised when having shot Mr Conlon, Simon called the emergency services saying: “I have just killed my son-in-law, daughter’s boyfriend ... I will go outside and wait for police.”
Simon told police he had not originally planned to kill Mr Conlon but did so after he “smirked at him.”
After killing Mr Conlon, Simon told a passing neighbour: “I put two in his body and one in the head.”
“Sixty years of hard work by my old man and they wanted to just take it. I lured him here and when I opened the door I said get on your knees and confess. He confessed and I shot him.”
Simon later told police: “I knew they were going to get me out ... I intended to do it”.
Mr Conlon was treated by paramedics but was pronounced dead at the scene.
In her judgment, Judge Sarah McNaughton described the CCTV footage as “disturbing and chilling”.
She noted “the calm and calculated manner in which the offender shot Mr Conlon, the words ‘bye, bye, Damien’, the tone of his voice, as well as the offender’s multiple admissions to the shooting.”
The court heard Simon joined the army as an apprentice at 15 years old and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression alongside having addiction problems.
However the said did not accept Simon’s PTSD as being directly related to the killing. She sentenced him to 31 years in prison with no chance of parole before 22 years.
