Tiahleigh Palmer's foster father Rick Thorburn told family 'it was all taken care of' after 12yo's murder
Updated
Father Rick Thorburn told his family "it was all taken care of" after he murdered foster child Tiahleigh Palmer to protect his son after he had sex with her, later dumping her mostly naked body in a river bank.
The Supreme Court in Brisbane heard 57-year-old Thorburn killed Tiahleigh on October 29, 2015.
Thorburn formally pleaded guilty at today's hearing to Tiahleigh's murder, along with perjury, attempting to pervert the course of justice, and interference with a corpse.
He wiped tears from his eyes as he admitted to murdering Tiahleigh and disposing of her body.
Prosecutor Carl Heaton QC told the court that Thorburn had told his family he had killed the 12-year-old, after revelations she had sex with his biological son Trent.
Mr Heaton told the court the killing took place while his wife Julene, Trent and another son Joshua were out of the family home late on October 29, 2015.
"Richard explained they would do things like they normally do. He told the family 'we have to protect Trent, we need to keep a story to ourselves that she went to school [the following day]'," Mr Heaton said.
Rick told them: "I have her hidden and I'm going to get rid of her tomorrow night. I'm going to leave home tomorrow morning, as if I'm going off to school as if I'm going to collect some car parts."
"Tomorrow night I don't want you boys home so I can get rid of Tiah's body. I know a good place."
Mr Heaton told the court Thorburn had told his wife: "Go to bed. Tomorrow will be a normal day."
Mr Heaton said the police investigation "failed to uncover any tangible evidence" until about seven months after Tiahleigh's death, when an anonymous Crime Stoppers tip came in.
That tip detailed a secret family meeting held by the Thorburns, and included information that Trent Thorburn had confessed to having sex with his foster sister while talking to his cousin on Facebook.
This new information sparked a Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) investigation.
Police then called the Thorburns before a CCC hearing where the family continued to "stick to the story" that Tiahleigh had been dropped at school and was not heard from since.
Listening devices were subsequently installed in the Thorburn's house that detected Thorburn instructing his family to "stick to the story" and keep Tiahleigh's relationship with Trent quiet.
"Richard Thorburn has never directly made any admissions to having murdered Tiah, but the contents of them indicate that is what has happened," Mr Heaton told the court.
Mr Heaton told the court some of the conversations included:
Julene Thorburn to Joshua Thorburn: Dad made the decision to go down that path and unfortunately we are going to have to live with it.
Rick Thorburn to Julene: No, but don't you tell anyone ever, no matter what — that's when things will f*** up.
Julene responded: No I'm not, this cannot go on like this, it's not fair to everyone.
Each of the Thorburns were eventually arrested in September 2016.
Mr Heaton called for a no parole period to be given to Rick Thorburn for the offence of murder. This would mean a life sentence and Thorburn would only be eligible for parole after 20 years.
Justice David Boddice is now sentencing Rick Thorburn, describing his offending as "cold, calculating and callous".
"You showed no respect for her, even in death — you murdered this defenceless child who relied on you for protection," Justice Boddice said.
Rick Thorburn, dressed in a buttoned-up blue shirt, is sitting in the dock silently and looking down as the matter continues in court.
Thorburn's defence barrister said his client had been a child in care himself after his mother died when he was nine years old and had spent time in juvenile institutions and on the streets.
The defence gave a letter from Thorburn to Justice Boddice saying "not a day goes by that he's not haunted by what he has done".
Tiahleigh's biological mother Cindy Palmer and many supporters sat in the court gallery a few metres behind Thorburn.
Tiahleigh was reported missing on October 30, 2015, after the Thorburns told police she had not returned from school.
Her body was found six days later on the banks of the Pimpama River on Queensland's Gold Coast.
When her body was eventually found on November 5, the cause of death could not be determined because of the state of decomposition, Mr Heaton said.
The court heard Tiahleigh was mostly naked when her body was found and there was a bruise on her scalp.
Topics: crime, courts-and-trials, law-crime-and-justice, murder-and-manslaughter, brisbane-4000, qld, australia, chambers-flat-4133, logan-central-4114, pimpama-4209
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