Archibald Prize winner Melissa Beowulf and her sons accused of the murder of their grandmother are declared not guilty

Update

April 12, 2019 12:11:09

Famous portraitist Melissa Beowulf and her sons Bjorn and Thorsten have been found not guilty of the murder of their family's old matriarch, Katherine Panin.

Ms. Panin was found dead on the steps of the yard of the family home in Red Hill, a suburb of Canberra, in October 2015, and the trial was to determine whether she died as a result of an accidental fall or she was murdered by her three family members.

Prosecutors alleged that Ms. Panin, 81, was killed by her daughter-in-law Mrs. Beowulf, 61, and her two eldest sons, fought over the family's money. A circumstantial case was presented.

The Supreme Court of ACT learned that Ms. Panin had made an appointment to amend her will and reduce Melissa Beowulf's share in the morning of her death.

But defense lawyers said the sons of Beowulf, Thorsten, 32, and Bjorn, 31, could actually benefit from the new testamentary agreement.

Defense lawyers also stated that, despite the fact that their home and phone had been blocked by the police for months after the murder, Ms. Beowulf and her sons had maintained their innocence in private conversations with each other while They had no reason to lie.

Ms. Panin had told friends that she was afraid of Ms. Beowulf

Prosecutors did not present any evidence establishing a direct connection between the trio and the murder, but said all three should be involved, as an altercation would have alerted all members of the house.

A red carpet would have disappeared from the family home on the afternoon of the murder, but would then have been found with traces of blood on Ms. Panin.

Ms. Panin's body was found on the steps of the house, but prosecutors told the court that her body would not be injured as a result of a fall on the stairs.

Mrs. Panin might have been killed elsewhere in the house and the scene of the accident would have been staged.

In the last few months of her life, prosecutors told Ms. Panin that she had told her friends that she was afraid of Ms. Beowulf and that she had made a report to the police at an incident where Ms. Beowulf allegedly shouted and waved her arms.

But lawyers for the three accused said Panin had a paranoid personality and was probably suffering from undiagnosed dementia.

Attorney Ken Archer told the court that Ms. Panin could not be considered a reliable source of information about what had happened in the weeks before her death.

"There was a heavy layer of paranoia," he told the jury.

The jury deliberated less than a day before declaring the three not guilty of murder committed by joint commission.

Chief Justice Helen Murrell told the jurors that the joint commission offense required that they be satisfied that the three accused had reached an agreement on the murder of Ms. Panin prior to her death.

Topics:

law-crime-and-justice

criminality,

murder and manslaughter,

canberra-2600,

act

First posted

April 12, 2019 11:27:35