The son of a farmer who shot and killed an environment officer involved in land-clearing prosecutions has been ordered to pay $405,000 by the New South Wales Land and Environment Court in Sydney today.
Grant Wesley Turnbull pleaded guilty to unlawfully clearing 508 hectares of native vegetation at his Croppa Creek property near Moree between January 1 and August 20, 2014.
Turnbull submitted to the court that his sentence should take into account that he and his family had already been punished because his father, Ian Turnbull, was found guilty of the 2014 murder of Glendon Turner.
Ian Turnbull died in jail.
Justice Sandra Duggan rejected the submission on the grounds that the clearing was not the reason his father was convicted.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The son of a farmer who shot and killed an environment officer involved in land-clearing prosecutions has been ordered to pay $405,000 by the New South Wales Land and Environment Court in Sydney today.
Grant Wesley Turnbull pleaded guilty to unlawfully clearing 508 hectares of native vegetation at his Croppa Creek property near Moree between January 1 and August 20, 2014.
Justice Sandra Duggan rejected the submission on the grounds that the clearing was not the reason his father was convicted.
“The consequence to [Grant Turnbull] of his father’s criminal conduct would not be considered as ‘punishment’ in the relevant sense, but rather the natural and inevitable consequence of the circumstance of his father being convicted of the murder of Mr Turner,” she said.
The court heard the illegal clearing included Brigalow trees, an endangered species, in a landscape of the New England region that had already been over-cleared.
Justice Duggan said the environmental impact of Turnbull’s clearing could be substantial.
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