By HARRY CLARKE | EXCLUSIVE
POLICE have been told by a contract musterer that accused killer Darryl Young offered him $500 to shoot his neighbours the night before Mr Young allegedly murdered Merv Schwarz, Maree Schwarz and Graham Tighe at the front gate of his remote North Queensland cattle station.
The Caller can also reveal that despite initial reports that an ongoing dispute between Mr Young and the Schwarz family related specifically to a newly built boundary fence between their respective properties, the meeting which occurred between the parties the morning of the shooting also related to ownership of cleanskin (unbranded) cattle.
Mr Young is accused of inviting the alleged murder victims to his front gate to discuss the dispute about 8.30am last Thursday before gunning them down with a rifle in a close range, execution style killing.
Mr Schwarz, 71, Mrs Schwarz, 59, and Mrs Schwarz’s son Graham Tighe, 35, were killed at the scene, while Mrs Schwarz’s other son, Ross Tighe, managed to escape with a gunshot wound to the abdomen.
Mr Young, 59, appeared in the Proserpine Magistrates Court on Monday charged with three counts murder and one count of attempted murder. He was remanded in custody and his matter was adjourned to November.
The owner of a local contract mustering business, who did not want to be identified, told the Caller that Mr Young said to him “I’ll give you 500 bucks to shoot my neighbours” during a phone call the night before the alleged murders took place. The man has given a statement to police.
“That was the first time I ever talked to him,” the ringer said.
“I was talking to fellas that I know who said there were a few people up there looking for contract musterers, and I just rang him and said that we were around.
“He said, ‘yeah I’ll talk to you within a few months about some mustering’ and that was all the conversation was about. And then that’s what he said (I’ll give you 500 bucks to shoot my neighbours).
“I didn’t know how to react at the start. It’s a bit overwhelming to get that said to you, isn’t it?
“That was the first time I talked to him so I wouldn’t know if he was serious or joking. But he said ‘oh no, I’m joking’.
“When I found out (about the shootings) I was sick in the guts.”
Darryl Young, known in the area by the nickname “Blinky” because “he blinks all the time”, is the owner of Shannonvale Station, an historic pastoral leasehold block situated in the rugged Clarke Ranges about 50km south west of Bowen in North Queensland.
Shannonvale was a hive of activity during the frontier days of the Normanby gold rush in the late 1800s. In a haunting irony, the shootings last Thursday occurred a mere few hundred metres from a grave yard from the gold rush era.
Having this week visited the area and spoken to multiple well placed sources, the Caller can reveal fresh details of how the violence allegedly unfolded.
It’s understood the Schwarz family had over the previous several days mustered parts of their 75,000 acre property, Sutherland Station, which they purchased last year reportedly for $10 million.
Among a large herd gathered by the Schwarzs were roughly 30 head of cleanskin cattle. Cleanskins are generally divided between neighbours depending on the number of beasts captured during a muster and where they are found.
“Blinky thought he should get all 30 cleanskins,” the Caller has been told, as well as that during a phone call the night prior to the shootings Mr Young invited the Schwarzs for a meeting at the Shannonvale front gate before the alleged victims were to resume mustering.
It’s understood that by survivor Ross Tighe’s account, tensions flared at the meeting before Mr Young allegedly retrieved a gun from his vehicle and began firing at the alleged victims.
The firearm is understood to have been a .30-30 calibre rifle, but it’s understood Mr Young doesn’t have such a weapon registered in his name.
As Merv Schwarz, Maree Schwarz and Graham Tighe were gunned down, Ross Tighe ran for cover in nearby bushland with a bullet wound in his stomach.
It’s understood that after hearing Mr Young walking around the area near where he was hiding, Ross Tighe then heard three further gun blasts followed by the sound of Mr Young’s vehicle leaving the scene.
Ross Tighe was able to drive 7km from the front of Shannonvale Station before losing consciousness and skidding to a halt on the side of Normanby Road.
He was found slumped over the steering wheel by a worker who’d been employed to help with mustering on Sutherland Station that day.
“He (the worker) was back at the house getting horses ready to go mustering for the day. The chopper pilot was over there, already started (mustering) and wondering where they were,” the Caller has been told.
“(The worker) said Ross was blacked out. He lifted him out of the ute and into the truck he was using to cart horses.
“He was already loaded up with four or five horses and they went back to Sutherland, loaded into Maree’s car, got Ross’s girlfriend and his daughter into the car and they drove down to (nearby property) Flagstone and he got airlifted from Flagstone.”
Parts of Shannonvale Station have remained a crime scene since last Thursday.
It’s understood Mr Young has been denying to police that he murdered the three family members.
CLICK IMAGE FOR GOFUNDME PAGE IN SUPPORT OF ROSS TIGHE AND PARTER, KAITLIN.
