Jury still deciding Bacon's fate
THERE is no dispute Peter Edward Bacon killed his mate Paul Karran. The question is: did he intend to?
This is the decision the jurors, who retired from the Rockhampton Supreme Court at 3.40pm yesterday, must now make.
Bacon stands accused of murdering 45-year-old Gladstone man Peter Karran on or around January 28, 2010.
Mr Karran died of multiple injuries, including a flailed chest, collapsed lung, ruptured spleen and torn mesentery (abdominal connective tissue).
Bacon has pleaded guilty to manslaughter but not guilty to murder.
According to defence lawyer John McInnes, this case is a "classic example" of manslaughter.
He agreed the assault on Mr Karran by Bacon was "uneven" and "appalling" but said it was an example of "mindless violence" and did not constitute murder.
Crown prosecutor Michael Lehane said there was a "crushing avalanche of evidence" that proved Bacon was guilty of murder.
"That man... brutally murdered Paul Karran, who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said.
"You know it, and so did he at the time and afterwards; when he fled the scene, when he tried to conceal the body, when he told lies and when he made a half-baked attempt at suicide."
At the time of print the jury was still deliberating.
