A distraught mother claims that three men went into a house to steal drugs or cash but instead stole a 22-year-old’s life and caused him terrible, needless suffering.
After being convicted guilty of killing Michael Zanco, Nathan John Caulfield, Trent Edward Dyhrberg, and Kalabe John Steven Saurine received life sentences in prison on Tuesday.
A Brisbane Supreme Court trial heard that the three went to a shed on a rural property in Gympie, north of Brisbane, in March 2020 intending to steal narcotics and/or money from Andrew Donney but that the alleged drug dealer was not at the site.
Zanco was eating fish and chips while waiting for his housemate to return when the men arrived, one carrying a sawn-off gun and the other a machete.
Zanco received a headshot shortly after. After being driven to the hospital in the back of Caulfield’s ute, he passed away the following day.
In court on Tuesday, Zanco’s mother, Cara Trinder, told the men, “You three may not have succeeded in stealing narcotics and money, but you did succeed in stealing something – you stole a life.
The trio abducted her firstborn and only child that evening, as well as a big brother from his sister.
“You all have caused such dreadful, needless suffering, and once more, I ask you: for what?”
The family discovered Zanco had been accepted for an apprenticeship with an Audi car dealer around a month after his passing.
“His dream and goal in life of being a mechanic is now lost forever,” Trinder remarked. Justice Peter Davis stated in passing judgment on the defendants that it was unclear exactly what happened in the room where Zanco was shot.
But it was evident that 36-year-old Caulfield shot Zanco at a close range with a gun of likely.22 caliber.
According to Davis, it was clear from their statements that Saurine, 22, and Dyhrberg, 36, were shocked by what happened in the room.
But he said that the three had carried out what is known as a home invasion on the local drug dealer’s house in order to obtain drugs when he handed down mandatory life sentences following the guilty verdicts from the jury.
As the jury concluded, “It always had the potential to result in death or very serious harm to whoever may have been at the house.”
Since it was evident during the trial that all three were addicted, Davis said the case served as a prime example of the harm caused by drugs. Trinder claimed her son was a lovely man with a lot to live for outside of court.
“There was no reason,” she responded when asked why his life was stolen.
