Bodybuilder who waterboarded a man before suffocating him with a plastic bag because he thought he had stolen his car is found guilty of murder
- Former bodybuilder Mark Rodney Jones found guilty of 2017 Launceston murder
- Court heard Bradley Wade Steward was tied up and tortured in an apartment
- He had been sleeping on the couch on New Year's Day when he was woken up
- Jones punched and kicked Mr Steward and suffocated him with shopping bag
A former bodybuilder has been found guilty over the murder of a man he tortured because he thought he had stolen his car.
Mark Rodney Jones, 43, stormed a Launceston apartment in Tasmania before he attacked Bradley Wade Breward, 22, on New Year's Day in 2017.
Jones had been armed with a screwdriver and tape, and with the help of an employee Rickey John Izard, 28, the pair tied up Mr Breward, ABC reported.
The former bodybuilder went on to kick and punch Breward before waterboarding him and eventually suffocating him with a shopping bag, a court heard.
The court heard Mark Rodney Jones, 43, stormed a Launceston apartment in Tasmania before he attacked Bradley Wade Breward, 22 (pictured), on New Year's Day in 2017
Jones had been armed with a screwdriver and tape, and with the help of an employee Rickey John Izard, 28, the pair tied up Mr Breward
Jones and Izard attempted to dispose the body and attached weights to Mr Breward's corpse before dumping it into Lake Eugenana, in the state's north-west.
The pair burned the victim's clothes as well as the life raft they used to dump Mr Breward's body in the lake.
For weeks Jones had been tracking down a person he believed had been responsible for the theft of his Nissan Patrol.
The vehicle had been stolen in December and Jones put out a $5,000 reward to find his car.
Jones later texted a friend days before the murder, the court heard.
'I'm on the trail of Brad Breward … c***'s gonna pay, he's gonna die and be brought back to life many times over,' he said in the message.
Jones exchanged $1,000 with a woman who was dating a friend of the victim, who told him of Mr Breward's whereabouts on the morning of his death.
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Mr Breward had been asleep on a couch, before he was woken up and tortured.
'Mr Breward didn't give him any information,' Crown prosecutor Daryl Coates told the court.
Jone's defence lawyer Greg Richardson described the death as a 'tragedy' and 'accident'.
'It was someone who did something out of desperation, it was not murder.'
Though the prosecution argued Jones should have known placing a shopping bag over Mr Breward's head could have led to death.
Jones had pleaded not guilty to murder, though a jury took just two hours to find him guilty at Launceston Supreme Court on Wednesday.
Izard has previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter, aggravated burglary and perverting the course of justice.
He will front court on July 1.
Sentencing submissions are slated for next week.
Jones and Izard attempted to dispose the body and attached weights to Mr Breward's corpse before dumping it into Lake Eugenana, in the state's north-west
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