Not Guilty Of Murder

Illawarra Mercury

Tuesday June 24, 2008

By VERONICA APAP

ANDREW Wayne Flentjar was yesterday found not guilty of murdering Nowra Hill couple Kathryn McKay and Greg Hosa on January 28, 2006.

Flentjar fought back tears as the verdict was read and broke down briefly as Justice Terrence Buddin left the bench of the NSW Supreme Court sitting in Wollongong.

After deliberating for a day-and-a-half, the jury of 10 men and two women found the prosecution failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Flentjar was at the Calymea St, Nowra Hill, house of Kim Leanne Snibson when the murders occurred.

The 33-year-old maintained throughout the trial that although he helped overpower and tie up Mr Hosa and Ms McKay, he was at his Kalandar St, East Nowra, home when they were killed.

Outside court, Ms McKay's father William McKay read a short statement.

"The families of Kathryn and Greg accept the not guilty verdict reluctantly," he said. "We won't get over the horrific murders of our loved ones, we just have to live with it."

Mr McKay, along with Mr Hosa's cousin Judy Hedger and her husband Bob, thanked detectives Paul McCann and Jason Hogan, and Crown prosecutor Paul Leask and his counsel assisting Kim Stanley.

Flentjar is due to begin sentencing hearings later this week over two kidnapping charges, to which he pleaded guilty.

He will be appearing with Snibson, 37, who, on May 28, pleaded guilty to kidnapping and murdering Mr Hosa and Ms McKay.

Stacey Lea-Caton, 29, of Nowra Hill, is serving a 22-year sentence for aiding and abetting murder.

During the five-week trial, the court heard that Snibson was the mastermind behind the murders.

She manipulated both Lea-Caton and Flentjar into assisting her capture her victims by telling them both different lies.

On January 28, Snibson phoned Mr Hosa and invited him to her house.

When he arrived he was attacked with a plank of wood, tied up and gagged.

His wife was called about half-an-hour later, and, when she arrived, was tackled, bound and gagged.

Snibson later suffocated Ms McKay by wrapping her face in tape and strangled Mr Hosa with wire.

She and Lea-Caton then forced the couple's bodies into 44-gallon drums and took them to Tomerong State Forest, where they were set alight.

© 2008 Illawarra Mercury

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