Andrew Robert Paterson, 59, of Caniambo, pleaded guilty in the Shepparton Supreme Court to murdering Rick Devlin at Mr Devlin’s home in a rural area of Numurkah on August 5 last year.
Prosecutor Erin Ramsay told the court Paterson drove to Mr Devlin’s home after 8.30pm and shot him twice — once in the head and once in the chest.
Mr Devlin’s wife Alison Greenwood heard him say “what the?” before the sound of two shots and a car driving off.
She came outside to find her 55-year-old husband lying on the ground and unresponsive, performing CPR until emergency services arrived.
The court heard Mr Devlin was employed as the chief executive operations manager for Moira Shire Council, while his killer was also employed by the council.
Ms Ramsay described the shooting as a “revenge attack” for grievances Paterson had with his employers.
The pair knew each other through work, but Mr Devlin had “no day-to-day” interactions with his killer and was not his direct supervisor, Ms Ramsay said.
The court heard tensions had risen between Paterson and some of his workmates and he was stood down over an alleged theft in 2019, but later reinstated after no evidence was found.
Paterson also put in a WorkCover claim for bullying in the workplace and has not worked since.
In May 2021 he was deemed fit to work by a doctor and was due back at work on August 9 that year, but did not want to go.
On the day of the murder he took an unregistered .38 Special revolver he did not have a licence for and, before leaving the house, left a note for his wife saying: “All the best love. Can you give my half to Bob. Sorry.”
Paterson told police later he had intended to kill himself.
Instead he bought alcohol in Shepparton and Numurkah before driving to Mr Devlin’s house.
Mr Devlin was in bed when Paterson arrived, but got up and went outside where he was shot by Paterson who was standing “a car length away”.
Paterson drove off, discarding the gun in a channel on his way home.
Ms Ramsay said when questioned by police about why he shot Mr Devlin, “he appeared to hold the victim responsible for the problems he was experiencing at work”.
He told police “if you’re the boss, the buck stops with you”, Ms Ramsay said.
Mr Devlin’s wife, daughters, mother, sister and grandson wrote victim impact statements which were read to the court describing him as a man who “lived for his children and grandchildren”.
Ms Greenwood spoke of how her husband was “the love of my life, my husband, protector, best friend and my universe”.
“The night Rick was murdered will haunt my life as my worst night ever,” Ms Greenwood said.
“I relive that night over and over.
“I relive the panic and the terror as I ran to my husband ... in the darkness and silence.
“I was doing CPR not knowing where the murderer was, and thinking are they going to kill me?”
Ms Greenwood now wears some of her husband’s ashes in a necklace, while more sit next to their wedding photo on the mantelpiece at home.
Daughter Emma Beau told how she had been at home asleep before police told her about Mr Devlin’s death and she had to break the news to her siblings and her father’s mother.
“Their reactions will forever hurt my heart,” she said.
“I’m so tired of crying, tired of feeling angry, tired of the what ifs, and tired of missing Dad with my whole heart.
“There are no words to describe the pain of his loss.”
Forensic psychologist Patrick Newton told the court how Peterson suffered from paranoid personality disorder, but said it was a “moderate dysfunction”.
He also said Paterson had a “fixed false belief” about Mr Devlin.
“The fact that Mr Devlin was at the top of the tree, where the buck stopped, he [perceived he] was responsible for his persecution,” Mr Newton said.
He also admitted that without the alcohol Paterson had drunk that day “this wouldn’t have happened”.
Paterson’s solicitor Sam Norton said his client’s paranoid personality disorder was relevant as it provided some information about how “information he received was interpreted in a paranoid delusional way”.
He also argued that his client should be given some credit in his sentence for pleading guilty at the earliest possibility and asked for a non-parole period that meant he would not die while still in jail.
Paterson will be sentenced at a later date.
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