Queensland's parole board is considering whether to release a convicted killer despite not knowing the whereabouts of the victim's remains because the body was incinerated.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Nelson Patea was sentenced to eight years' jail in May for the manslaughter of Gold Coast man Greg Dufty.
He is eligible for parole on January 11.
But the state's tough new no body no parole legislation could keep him behind bars unless he can show he co-operated with police to identify where the father-of-two's remains were.
Mr Dufty was brutally beaten by a group of men in July 2015 after he stole cannabis from a friend's northern NSW property.
Patea was there for the assault but it is not known what role he played and he was dropped at a casino a short time later.
He told a Parole Board Queensland hearing on Thursday he didn't know what happened to Mr Dufty until he read statements from two of his co-accused.
Realising he was dead in the hours after the assault, the pair drove his body to the northern NSW property and incinerated it in a bonfire.
Patea's defence lawyer Campbell MacCallum said his client shouldn't be subjected to ongoing detention because he wasn't involved in the disposal.
He also denied Patea hadn't co-operated with police during the investigation, but said even if he had talked, he wouldn't have had "the capacity to advise where the body was".
His brother Lionel admitted murdering Mr Dufty, while Clinton Stockman, Aaron John Crawford and Liam Rawhiti Bliss have also been sentenced for manslaughter.
The board will make its decision at a later date.
Australian Associated Press
