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By Fraser Barton
September 14, 2025 — 9.43am
A landlord who attacked and killed a tenant after long-running disputes has been jailed for manslaughter.
Brett Gordon Williams, 61, was sentenced in Brisbane Supreme Court for the violent assault of his tenant, Craig Dunn, at Hervey Bay, north of Brisbane, on April 4, 2022.
Williams had been acquitted of murder but was found guilty of manslaughter by a Maryborough jury in April.
Brett Williams could be out on parole in April next year after his sentencing in Brisbane’s Supreme Court.Credit: Dan Peled
Williams lost his temper with Dunn following longstanding disputes involving the victim deliberately provoking the landlord and pointing CCTV cameras towards his home at an industrial complex, Justice Peter Davis said.
On the morning that Dunn was killed, Williams had planned an inspection of the complex by a potential buyer.
But Dunn pushed over a steel gantry in the car park to either sabotage the sale or annoy Williams, Justice Davis said.
This provoked Williams, who assaulted Dunn, with CCTV footage capturing the accused standing over him.
The men then walked towards Dunn’s unit, with drops of his blood found trailing into it.
Williams entered the unit and took CCTV cameras before going to a nearby pool shed, where the Crown said Dunn was fatally assaulted.
The landlord took Dunn’s mobile phone and drove off, disposing of it in some bushes and throwing the CCTV cameras in a bin.
Prosecutors had earlier argued that Williams had tried to dispose of evidence.
‘I find consistently with the verdict that you applied the force necessary to cause the injury.’
Justice Peter Davis“If that was your aim, you could have done a better job,” Davis said.
“You made no attempt to destroy either the cameras or the phone. Indeed, you didn’t even turn the phone off.
“I have always been puzzled by the fact that you dealt with the phone differently to the way you dealt with the cameras.”
A pathologist determined that Dunn’s cause of death was a collapsed lung caused by broken ribs struck with significant force, Davis said.
Dunn also had fractures to his skull, neck and nose, along with an elbow dislocation.
“I find consistently with the verdict that you applied the force necessary to cause the injury that caused the pneumothorax [collapsed lung],” Davis said.
“I cannot make any findings as to the mechanism by which the force was applied.”
Williams was sentenced to eight years’ jail on Friday.
His parole eligibility was set for April 2026, after 1216 days of pre-sentence custody was declared as time served.
AAP
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