Qld: Gold Coast man jailed for killing estranged wife

AAP General News (Australia)
12-17-1999
Qld: Gold Coast man jailed for killing estranged wife

BRISBANE, Dec 17 AAP - A Gold Coast man was today jailed for 11 years after he lured
his estranged wife to his home, killed her and lied about where he put her body, which
has never been found.

A Supreme Court jury found Kevin John Baggott, a 43-year-old truck driver from Nerang,
guilty of the manslaughter of Michelle Baggott on July 17 last year.

The jury acquitted him of murder.

Baggott married Michelle in April 1996 and the couple separated two years later.

They were going through an acrimonious divorce, including a custody battle over Michelle's
daughter, who is now aged nine.

The child, who is in care and cannot be named, wrote a victim impact statement in the
form of a letter to Justice George Fryberg which spoke of her heartbreak over her mother's
death.

"I'm very sad, I miss her lots, I still talk to her and I want her back," she wrote.

"Every time I cross the Nerang River I look for her."

Baggott told police he asked Michelle to his house so he could swap cars, giving her
the better one, however they argued and he punched her in the head, killing her.

He maintained he took her body to a boat ramp at the Nerang River and threw it in at
9am on a weekday near a busy road.

The body has never been found.

Justice Fryberg branded Baggott's story about his wife's death, and in particular the
way in which he disposed of her body, as "lies".

"I disbelieve that story," Justice Fryberg told the court.

"I think it is incredible that you would have done such a thing, or that you would
not have been observed doing it."

He said Baggott was "self-pitying", "self-indulgent" and indifferent to the feelings
of his dead wife's daughter and the rest of her family.

Baggott was sentenced to 11 years jail and classified as a serious violent offender,
which means he will have to serve 80 per cent of the sentence before becoming eligible
for parole.

AAP smk/ch/bm

KEYWORD: BAGGOTT

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