GUILTY Australia - Campbell Paterson, found dismembered, Cairns, Qld, 7 Nov 2014

November 20, 2014 - 4:11PM

A man allegedly murdered and whose body was put in an esky near Cairns had been missing for about a week before police made the discovery.

The large esky was found by detectives in bushland at Edmonton, about 15 kilometres south-east of the Cairns CBD on Thursday.

A crime scene has been established and police scientific officers were examining the area..

They were also searching a property at Lord Street in Edmonton, the location where police believe the alleged killing occurred.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/que...ear-cairns-20141120-11qmqi.html#ixzz3JbcWLbOi

4.22pm November 20, 2014

A man has been charged with murder after a body was found in an esky in Far North Queensland bushland.

http://www.9news.com.au/national/2014/11/20/16/22/body-found-in-esky-in-bushland-near-cairns

Esky = portable cooler. I had to look it up

NZ family mourn esky murder victim

THE family of a New Zealand man whose dismembered body was found in an esky south of Cairns say they are having difficulty coming to grips with his death.
THE man has been named in NZ newspaper Hawke's Bay Today as Campbell Paterson, from Napier.
His remains were found in bushland on Thursday.
Hours earlier, police charged David Hickson, 32, with murder and interfering with a corpse.
Mr Paterson had been working in Cairns and returning home to his wife and four children in Napier every few months.
http://www.news.com.au/national/bre...ky-murder-victim/story-e6frfku9-1227131457362

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/que...ound-in-esky-near-cairns-20151214-gln0hb.html

In the Cairns Magistrates Court on Monday [Hickson] was ordered to stand trial, with a five-day trial set down to begin on March 14 next year.

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From June:

David Leslie Hickson jailed for life in Esky murder case

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/crime-and-justice/david-leslie-hickson-jailed-for-life-in-esky-murder-case/news-story/fea47d7f169242c8572905568ec07cff

A man accused of murdering a New Zealand national in far North Queensland before stuffing his body in an Esky has been sentenced to life imprisonment.

David Leslie Hickson, 34, was found guilty of fatally stabbing Campbell Paterson in November 2014 at a property in Edmonton, south of Cairns, before cutting off his legs and shoving him in the Esky.

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Over the course of the trial in Cairns’ Supreme Court, the jury heard Hickson and Paterson were both users of methylamphetamine and operated in the world of drug debt enforcement.

Hickson claimed he feared for his safety on the night of the murder because Paterson was at his house moving around furniture and setting up tarpaulins near a back deck.

He stabbed Paterson in the upper collarbone before cutting off his legs, shoving him in an Esky and hiding it in bushland.

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From March:

Cairns man convicted of killing man and stuffing him in esky has decided not to appeal conviction

http://www.cairnspost.com.au/news/cairns/cairns-man-convicted-of-killing-man-and-stuffing-him-in-esky-has-decided-not-to-appeal-conviction/news-story/dfcb17f36ef1fe73f9338eb35f7681a6

Hickson lodged an appeal against the conviction on the grounds that “on the whole of the evidence it wasn’t possible for the jury to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that he was guilty”.

At the time his solicitor Scott Osborne said his client was “distressed” about being found guilty and there was a “reasonable hypothesis” that he killed Mr Campbell in self defence.

Mr Osborne said he was aware Hickson had submitted a notice of abandonment on his appeal, but did not know why.

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