Guilty Verdict Reached in Bogie Triple Murder

More than four years after three members of a family were murdered and a fourth was seriously injured, Bogie farmer Darryl Young has been found guilty of all four crimes.  

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The 63-year-old was convicted in the Townsville Supreme Court on Friday 4th September for the murder of Mervyn and Maree Schwarz and Maree’s son, Graham Tighe, as well as attempting to murder Graham’s brother, Ross Tighe.

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After 15 hours of deliberations over three days, the jury unanimously found Young guilty of all three murders. An 11–1 majority verdict was later reached on the attempted murder charge.

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"We are grateful to the jury for their guilty verdict, but no verdict or sentence can give us back Merv, Maree and Graham, or what Ross had to survive that day," Mervyn Schwarz's eldest son, Guy Schwarz, said on behalf of the families in an ABC report.  

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"He robbed two young children of their father and a whole family of people we loved."

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The verdict followed a four-week trial examining the events of August 4th 2022, when the four members of the Schwarz-Tighe family arrived at the gate of Young’s Shannonvale Station at Bogie.  

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The court heard Young had long accused the family of stealing and selling his cattle. Following a tense phone call with Graham, Young demanded the family meet him at the boundary gate between the properties.

When the Schwarz-Tighe family arrived about 8am, Young fatally shot Mervyn, Maree and Graham with a .30-30 calibre rifle. Ross was shot in the abdomen but managed to escape in a vehicle and raise the alarm.

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In the years that followed, Young maintained his innocence, pleading not guilty and claiming he was not at the gate when the shootings occurred.  

His defence pointed to footage recorded by wind farm workers elsewhere on the property at 8.04am, about six kilometres from the scene, which could have brought into question whether Young could have committed the shootings before being seen again about 8.30am.  

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His lawyers also challenged Ross Tighe’s account, going as far as suggesting Ross may have been responsible for the shootings.

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However, the jury heard evidence supporting Ross’s account, including .30-30 calibre cartridge casings found around the victims and ammunition of the same calibre discovered in Young’s home.  

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Two of the trial’s more than 30 witnesses also recalled overhearing Young angrily demand that Graham and his family meet him at the gate the following morning. Taken together, the evidence convinced the jury of Young’s guilt.

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