Darryl Young has been found guilty of murdering three neighbours in a shooting at the front gate of his rural Queensland property.
The jury also found the 63-year-old guilty of attempting to murder Ross Tighe, the sole survivor of the shooting.
Young had faced four charges over the deaths of Mervyn Schwarz, his wife Maree Schwarz and her son Graham Tighe at his Shannonvale property in Bogie on August 4, 2022.
The verdicts bring an end to a four-week trial that began in Townsville Supreme Court last month.
Young stood in the dock without showing emotion as the verdicts were delivered.
The victims’ family members cheered, cried and clapped as the jury found Young guilty of the three murders.
Jurors had begun deliberating on Wednesday after hearing evidence from more than 30 witnesses.
They returned to court on Friday after more than 14 hours of deliberations.
Justice Christopher Johnstone had earlier told the jury they could return a majority verdict of 11 jurors if they could not reach a unanimous decision on the attempted murder charge.
The jury returned a short time later with the verdict.
The case centred on a meeting Young arranged with his neighbours at the front gate of Shannonvale Station.
The prosecution alleged the meeting was linked to Young’s belief that the family had been stealing his cattle.
The jury found Young pulled a rifle from the back seat of his ute after the family arrived.
He then declared, “I’ll end this once and for all” before shooting Mervyn in the head.
Maree and Graham were also shot dead.
Police later found all three bodies at the property gate.
Ross was also shot but survived.
He told the court he ran from the scene and hid in long grass after being wounded.
He later returned to where his family members had been killed before escaping in a vehicle.
The prosecution alleged Young shot Ross in the stomach as he tried to flee.
Young denied being at the front gate when the shooting happened.
He gave evidence during the trial and told the jury he was surprised to learn about the killings.
The prosecution’s case was that Young had arranged the meeting before carrying out the attack.
The defence challenged the account given by Ross and questioned whether his evidence could be relied upon.
Ross remained a central witness throughout the trial.
His evidence was also examined by Justice Johnstone before the jury began considering its verdict.
The court heard that Young spent the rest of the day with workers from a wind farm who were carrying out testing on his property.
He also posed for a selfie with the workers and gave the camera a thumbs up.
The killings occurred more than four years before Young’s trial began.
Proceedings started in Townsville on August 10, 2026, just days after the anniversary of the shooting.
The case has involved extensive evidence about the events leading up to the meeting, the shooting itself and what happened afterwards.
The jury was ultimately required to determine whether Young was responsible for the deaths and whether he intended to kill Ross.
It has now found him guilty on all four charges.
Young is due to be sentenced on Monday at 2pm.