A failed attempt to bribe a friend into committing perjury has lengthened the decades-long sentence already to be served by the woman whose misdeeds have seen her nicknamed the “Widow of Walcha”.
Natasha Beth Darcy was sentenced to at least 30 years jail in February after she was found guilty of murdering her sheep grazier partner Mathew Dunbar, despite trying to pass his death off as a suicide
in a “clumsy and ugly” bid for his multimillion-dollar estate.
As she awaited sentencing for the murder in September last year, Darcy was further charged with two counts of doing an act with intent to pervert the course of justice, and pleaded guilty.
In Dubbo District Court on Wednesday, Judge Craig Smith said that while the offence “was not overly sophisticated”, it involved planning, was “not at all spontaneous” and was “not a one-off attempt”.
The fact that the attempt was unsuccessful “carries little weight”, he said.
There was no evidence of remorse, and Darcy’s criminal record “disentitles her to leniency”, he said.
He imposed a sentence of three years for the offence, to commence on February 17, 2046, with a non parole period of two years and three months.
The sentence effectively extends Darcy’s current non parole period by six months. She will be eligible for release on May 16, 2048.