Jury finds Bogie grazier Darryl Young guilty of triple murder

Posted Fri 4 Sep 2026 at 4:17pmFri 4 Sep 2026 at 4:17pmFri 4 Sep 2026 at 4:17pm, updated Fri 4 Sep 2026 at 4:42pmFri 4 Sep 2026 at 4:42pmFri 4 Sep 2026 at 4:42pm

In short:

Darryl Valroy Young has been found guilty of killing three neighbours at Bogie in north Queensland in 2022. 

Young had pleaded not guilty to the three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder at the beginning of a Supreme Court trial in Townsville that heard three weeks’ of evidence and two days’ of closing addresses. 

Mervyn and Maree Schwarz and her son Graham Tighe were found dead at the gate of Mr Young’s Shannonvale Station on August 4, 2022. 

Darryl Valroy Young, 63, has been found guilty of a triple murder at the gate of his north Queensland cattle station. 

Married couple Mervyn and Maree Schwarz and her son Graham Tighe were found shot dead at the gate to Young’s Shannonvale Station at Bogie on August 4, 2022. 

Prosecutors told the trial that Ross Tighe – Graham Tighe’s brother – was also shot in the incident but fled in a vehicle and raised the alarm. 

The trial heard that Young believed the family, who were his neighbours, were stealing his cattle and he demanded a meeting at the time and place of the shooting. 

Young had pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.

The jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict on three counts of murder this afternoon after deliberating for 15 hours over three days. 

Jurors were unable to reach a verdict on one count of attempted murder. 

Justice Christopher Johnstone will now direct them on further deliberation on the charge of attempted murder. 

No emotion

As the guilty verdicts were read Young looked forward towards Justice Christopher Johnstone and did not show any signs of emotion.

Justice Johnstone asked Young if he had any reason as to why a sentence should not be imposed against him – to which Young replied “no”.

Justice Johnstone asked jurors to continue their deliberations on the charge of attempted murder despite them earlier sending a note that they were highly unlikely to reach a consensus.

Dozens of family and friends of the Schwarz and Tighe families were present in the upper gallery of the Supreme Court in Townsville and could be heard breathing sighs of relief and were seen embracing each other in tears. 

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