On 4 November 2022, after more than one day of deliberations following a two-week trial in the Cairns Supreme Court a jury has found Kyam Broadby not guilty of murdering his colleague after a violent assault. The jury did return a verdict of guilty on the alternate charge of manslaughter.

At the time of the offence in July 2019 Mr Broadby was a show worker and had been working side by side the victim setting up rides at the Mareeba Rodeo. The victim Mr Nathaniel Wailu, who was a Torres Strait Islander, had been intoxicated at the time of the offence. There was an altercation where Mr Wailu was confronted by a group of people about his behaviour towards a woman. While initially aggressive Mr Wailu dropped the item he was holding and turned and ran away from the confrontation which is where the matter should have stopped.

Mr Broadby and another male went in search of the victim and upon locating where he was hiding they repeatedly struck him and kicked him.

The injuries sustained by the victim caused him to go into cardiac arrest, and at the time parademics were able to revive him. He had sustained serious head and facial injuries due to the assault and after five days in hospital the victims life support was turned off and he passed away.

Her Honour Justice Susan Brown sentenced Mr Broadby following the return of the verdict and sentenced Mr Broadby to nine years imprisonment and declared the offence to be a serious violent offence.

When sentencing Mr Broadby Her Honour took into consideration Mr Broadby’s background including losing his father at a young age, the murder of his sister and the death of his first child. All of these factors impacted the sentence that Mr Broadby was given by the court.

What does a Declaration of a Serious Violent Offence Mean?

Where the court makes a declaration of a serious violent offence at sentence the result is that the offender must serve eighty (80) per cent of their sentence before they are able to become eligible for parole.

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