GUILTY Australia - Samantha Kelly, 39, Bendigo, Vic, 23 Jan 2016 *arrests*

[JusticeWillBeServed]

'Devoted' men murdered mother so woman could take her kids, court told

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/devoted-men-murdered-mother-so-woman-could-take-her-kids-court-told-20180514-p4zf8j.html

Christine Lyons had a powerful motivation in wanting Samantha Kelly dead, the Supreme Court heard on Monday, because she was unable to have children and would assume care of Ms Kelly’s three daughters and a son.

So, prosecutors allege, Ms Lyons, partner Peter Arthur and their housemate Ronald Lyons hatched a plan to kill Ms Kelly one night in January 2016 in the bungalow behind their home in the Bendigo suburb of Kangaroo Flat.

Defence lawyers told the jury Arthur acted alone in killing Ms Kelly, and that their clients never entered an agreement to murder.

‘‘He did what he did on his own for reasons only known to him,’’ Jarrod Williams, for Mr Lyons, told the jury.

Peter Kilduff, for Ms Lyons, said his client ‘‘emphatically rejects’’ the allegation she would kill to have her own children, and that conversations about a kill plot never happened.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Murder accused Christine Lyons wanted Samantha Kelly to go on "permanent holiday", court told

Shiralee Lyons, a cousin of accused man Ronald Lyons and a close friend of both his co-accused Christine Lyons and Ms Kelly, said she was party to a conversation with Christine Lyons and her partner, Peter Arthur, before Christmas 2015.

The court heard that Christine Lyons brought up Ms Kelly in this conversation, then said that she wanted Ms Lyons to make “Sam go on a permanent holiday”.

As best as she could remember, Ms Lyons said, “the conversation when Sam came up was that (Christine) wanted to do Sam in”.

Mother murdered while on phone and killer spoke to caller after, court told

A mother of four was on the telephone at the time she was murdered, a trial has heard, and the woman on the end of the line says she spoke with the killer afterwards.

Michelle Enright said she heard "some thumps" in the moments after she last spoke with cousin Samantha Kelly and then heard a man say "Oh f---, she's on the phone."

Ms Enright told the court on Friday she was on the phone with Ms Kelly when her cousin told her the Lyons and Arthur "only wanted her for the kids" and that she felt dizzy after being given something to drink.

She said Ms Kelly told her someone was approaching the bungalow. Ms Enright told the court that soon after she heard noises on the other end of the line.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Samantha Kelly's killer Peter Arthur gives evidence in murder trials of Christine Lyons and Ronald Lyons

Arthur told the court that Ms Lyons had Ms Kelly come into the main house at their Kangaroo Flat property to have a drink, and Ms Kelly was given a drink spiked with medications.

He said he prepared the drink and Mr Lyons crushed the tablets, and the intention was that Ms Kelly die.

“Ronald and Christine wanted her to… have the overdose so they could – so Christine could – could have her children,” Arthur said.

Arthur told the court that that night, Ms Lyons said the tablets were taking too long “to do the job”, and about 12.30am she and Mr Lyons said it was “time to make sure… Samantha was dead”.

He said he and Mr Lyons went out to the unit and into the bathroom, where he kept tools. “He picked up the hammer and said ‘This is what you’ll use’,” Arthur said.

Arthur demonstrated to the court how he hit Ms Kelly in the middle of the forehead with the hammer.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Jury finds Christine Lyons guilty of Samantha Kelly murder

Christine Ann Lyons was so desperate to become a mother she plotted to kill her housemate Samantha Kelly in a bid to claim the woman’s four young children as her own.

On Thursday, a Supreme Court jury found the 47-year-old guilty of the murder and attempted murder of Ms Kelly, 39, who died on or about January 23, 2016.

The jury found her co-accused, 45-year-old Ronald Lyons, another of Ms Kelly’s housemates, guilty of attempted murder and assisting an offender, but not guilty of murder.

'Samantha didn't die for nothing': Family speak after murder verdicts

Outside court on Thursday, Ms Kelly's brother Michael Kelly and his partner Danielle Stevenson said justice had been served.

"Samantha didn't die for nothing," Ms Stevenson said.

"There is justice and her life actually means something now and the jury has acknowledged that. They have put away three people [who] manipulated and used a very vulnerable person."

Mr Kelly and Ms Stevenson now have custody of Ms Kelly's four children. They said they will ensure her children grow up knowing the woman their mother was.

- A sentencing hearing is currently scheduled for August 15th.

 

[Bohemian]

Samantha Kelly's family address killer who tried to take 'beautiful daughter's' kids - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 

[Jennifer17]

How casually evil is that?

 

[Bohemian]

Christine Lyons and Ronald Lyons sentenced for murder of Bendigo woman Samantha Kelly - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)