A son has been jailed for life for murdering his father at an outback roadhouse they both managed while in a sexual relationship with the same woman.
John Matthew Gallagher, 29, bashed Dean Thomas Gallagher, 51, to death at the remote Salmon Gums Roadhouse, north of Esperance in Western Australia, on October 4, 2024, while both were heavily intoxicated.
He filmed the attack, at one point calling himself a “monster that killed my dad”, and posted the “disturbing and distressing” videos on Snapchat where they were seen by the men’s lover, who called police, The West Australian reported.
Gallagher pleaded guilty and was sentenced in the WA Supreme Court on Monday by Justice Bruno Fiannaca, who called the attack “horrific, brutal and sustained”, and noted the roadhouse CCTV showed the killer carrying out more than 200 violent acts in 46 minutes.
Justice Fiannaca said there was no evidence the love triangle caused the attack, “but that is not to say it wasn’t a source of tension”, and said the pair had a “long history of drinking heavily together and being violent” as well as taking illegal drugs.
The court heard Gallagher had a traumatic childhood and along with his mother was the victim of domestic violence at the hands of his father, and that he had been going to the pub with his father since he was 15 years old.
Gallagher told police he committed the crime because of a “loss of empathy” and because “he deserved it”, but later made a statement saying his father was his “best mate” and said “a sober me wouldn’t have done it”, ABC News reported.
Justice Fiannaca told Gallagher in sentencing patricide was an “egregious and shocking” crime seen as “abhorrent” by the community.
“However flawed your father may have been he had redeeming qualities and was much loved by his family,” he said.
He sentenced Gallagher to life with a non-parole period of 21 years.
Header image: John and Dean Gallagher (Facebook).
