A triple murderer who gunned down a Queensland cattle grazing family had terrorised the community for decades, stealing livestock and threatening a police officer, according to his former neighbours and an ex-detective.
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who → gun → neighbours
Darryl Young is serving three life sentences with a non-parole period of 40 years, a sentence believed to be the longest ever handed down in Queensland, for killing his neighbours Mervyn and Maree Schwarz, and her son Graham Tighe, after he demanded the family meet him at the gate of his Bogie property in 2022.
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family → serve → 2022
Young is appealing against his conviction and sentence.
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Young → appeal → conviction
The 63-year-old had wrongly accused the family of cattle theft before fatally shooting three of them and shooting Ross Tighe, the sole survivor.
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old → accuse → Tighe
But it was Young who was convicted of cattle theft in 2006 after he pleaded guilty to stealing 147 head of cattle with his mother, Janelle.
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he → convict → mother
Fred Swift, a former detective in Queensland's stock squad, has never spoken publicly about his dealings with Young before now.
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Swift → speak → Young
Mr Swift described meeting Young in 1994 and revealed he was the main suspect for cattle theft in the Bowen area in north Queensland.
"Darryl was one of the worst people I ever dealt with …
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I → describe → people
I did call him the spawn of the devil, I said it to his face," Mr Swift told the ABC.
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Swift → call → ABC
"People were fearful of him and that fear was justified."
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fear → justify → him
Mr Swift said Young threatened him on multiple occasions.
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Young → say → occasions
He just told me, 'Watch what you're doing,'" Mr Swift said.
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Swift → tell → what
Young was vindictive and would react when people reported him for cattle stealing, according to Mr Swift.
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people → react → Swift
"It wasn't always him stealing cattle, but it often was."
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it → steal → cattle
Mr Swift said after one particular complaint, Young pushed a man's cattle yards into a heap with a bulldozer and sat the machine on top of the wreckage as a warning sign.
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Young → say → sign
Another time, Young drained a tank of molasses down the creek at the same man's property, Mr Swift said.
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Swift → drain → property
Neighbour's decades-long fight
Also speaking publicly for the first time, Steve Norman, a former neighbour of the Young family's property in Bowen, said he was among the cattle owners whose stock Young and his mother stole.
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Young → speak → stock
Mr Norman revealed he had been trying to get a conviction since 1986.
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he → reveal → 1986
"You wouldn't believe what the property next to me was called when his mother owned it.
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mother → believe → it
Mr Norman told the ABC.
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Norman → tell → ABC
Mr Norman alleges Young cut his fences and threatened his daughters after he made reports to the stock squad.
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he → allege → squad
"Every time we'd get the stock squad onto them, I'd have windmills broken, I'd have pumps pinched."
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pumps → get → them
Another time, Mr Norman said a jet pump was cut out of a bore and the 6-metre hole filled with rocks, so it was unusable.
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it → say → rocks
The stock squad had received multiple reports about Darryl Young over many years, but it did not have enough concrete evidence to charge him, Mr Swift said.
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Swift → receive → him
But one day in 2003, Mr Swift was wandering around the Gracemere cattle yards in central Queensland, about a six and a half hour drive from Bowen, when he saw dodgy-looking brands on cattle and Darryl Young's name.
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he → wander → cattle
"That's when it all came tumbling down," the ex-detective said.
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detective → tumble → ?
"[He and his mother] were changing brands, registering brands very close to their neighbours' brands and putting their brand over the old brand.
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He → change → brand
"
Later, Mr Swift was searching for a woman's missing cattle when he pulled into a paddock in Bowen.
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he → search → Bowen
"I was eating my ham and salad sandwich on wholemeal bread, and it suddenly dawned on me I was looking at stolen cattle," he said.
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he → eat → cattle
"They had been agisted to the farm that was there by Darryl Young.
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that → agiste → Young
I don't think anyone else knew that they were stolen.
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they → think → ?
The number of complaints and the history and time that went by.
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that → go → complaints
"
Young was sentenced to two years' imprisonment, to be released after serving six months, for the cattle theft conviction in 2006.
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Young → sentence → 2006
His mother Janelle Young's two-year sentence was wholly suspended.
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sentence → suspend → ?
During the 2006 case, Judge Bob Pack said the scheme was "somewhat sophisticated" because the Gracemere cattle yard was "well away from the Bowen district", meaning there were fewer chances of the cattle being identified by their real owners.
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cattle → say → owners
"An under-resourced stock squad, which has been the position for many years, of course to some extent facilitates offending of this nature," Judge Pack said at the time.
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Pack → resource → time
Mr Norman said things quietened down after Young's conviction, until the morning of the Bogie shooting in 2022.
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things → say → 2022
"The police rang me up wondering where I was.
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I → ring → me
I said, 'I'm in Charters Towers' and they said, 'Thank Christ for that, because Darryl Young is up here shooting people,'" Mr Norman said.
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Norman → say → people
"[The police officer] was worried [about me]."
Young maintained his innocence throughout the trial this year, claiming he was never at the scene of the shooting.
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he → maintain → shooting
'The whole system is broken'
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system → break → ?
…and 28 more, not listed.
The Aporia