Qld: Man eligible for parole despite conviction

AAP General News (Australia)
08-17-2000
Qld: Man eligible for parole despite conviction

By Suzanne Klotz

BRISBANE, Aug 17 AAP - A man whose murder conviction was overturned by the High Court
today became eligible for parole despite being sentenced to 10 years jail for manslaughter.

William Laurence Gilbert, 37, of Mildura, in Victoria, pleaded guilty in the Supreme
Court in Brisbane today to the manslaughter of Whintre (Whintre) Linsley at Ringtail Creek,
near Pomona, in the Sunshine Coast hinterland on July 14, 1994.

In November 1995, Gilbert, his brother Donald Bruce Gilbert, then 36, and Jason David
Harding, then 22, all of Mildura, were convicted by a Supreme Court jury of Linsley's
murder.

William Gilbert lost a Queensland Court of Appeal hearing in 1998, but won a High Court
appeal in March this year.

The legal argument centred on the availability of a manslaughter plea to parties in
a killing when others had already been convicted of murder.

At the time of the trial the existing law did not allow for a manslaughter plea in
those circumstances.

A drunken Donald Gilbert and Harding bashed Linsley's skull to smithereens in bushland
while William Gilbert, who had driven them there, waited in the car.

In sentencing William Gilbert today, Justice Margaret White said that the attack was
for seemingly trivial reasons involving teaching Linsley a lesson about his attitude,
as he was not generally liked when he had been drinking.

"The death of Mr Linsley was a horrible and violent one although you (William Gilbert)
did not have a direct role," Justice White said.

She sentenced William Gilbert to 10 years jail. But as he had already been in prison
for six years since his arrest in July 1994, Justice White ordered that he be made eligible
to apply for parole immediately.

AAP smk/sc/mg/bwl

KEYWORD: GILBERT

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