An accused triple murderer has denied repeatedly before a jury that he shot dead three people at the front gate of his high country cattle station in the remote mountain ranges of North Queensland four years ago.<\/p>\n
Darryl Valroy Young took the stand Thursday in the Townsville Supreme Court, where he is charged with murdering three members of a family from a rural property which borders his property, Shannonvale Station, on August 4, 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo\u2026 No\u2026 No\u2026 No,\u201d he replied under cross examination, when Crown prosecutor David Nardone asked in succession whether he\u2019d killed neighbouring cattle graziers Merv and Maree Schwarz, and Maree\u2019s son Graham Tighe.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s also charged with attempting to kill Graham\u2019s brother Ross Tighe, who managed to escape the shooting and survive despite suffering a bullet wound to the abdomen.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo\u2026 \u2018cause I wasn\u2019t there,\u201d Mr Young said on the thirteenth day of his trial.<\/p>\n
Prosecution witnesses have told the court that the night before the shooting, Mr Young had phoned Graham Tighe and demanded his family meet him at the Shannonvale front gate at 8am the following morning.<\/p>\n
The court heard Mr Young had accused the Tighe Schwarz family of stealing cattle while mustering on their property, Sutherland Station, during the days leading up the shooting.<\/p>\n
But Mr Young has claimed his relationship with the Tighe-Schwarz family had been entirely cooperative for the whole period they\u2019d been neighbours.<\/p>\n
He said his relationship with Graham Tighe had been \u201cexcellent, excellent, excellent\u201d and that \u201cwe got on really well\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said he\u2019d previously bought Ross Tighe a carton of beer because \u201che\u2019d done such a good job\u201d bulldozing to clear land along Shannonvale-Sutherland fence line.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t believe they were stealing cattle,\u201d Mr Young told jurors.<\/p>\n
Prosecutor Nardone suggested Mr Young was lying when he claimed that rifle ammunition, found at the Shannonvale homestead and matching spent bullets shells found at the front gate crime scene, did not belong to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not lying,\u201d Mr Young said.<\/p>\n
Mr Young, 63, remains under cross examination.<\/p>\n
The trial is expected to run into a fourth week.<\/p>\n
Jurors have heard Mr Young\u2019s brother, Quentin Young, and mother-in-law, Sharon Young, will give evidence as defence witnesses.<\/p>\n
The Crown alleges there were 14 legally-owned firearms found by detectives at a second property owned by Mr Young, near the town of Bowen, during police\u2019s investigation of the shooting.<\/p>\n
The Crown alleges the murder weapon was a .30-30 calibre, although no such weapon has been presented to the jury, and no such weapon was licensed to Mr Young.<\/p>\n