Not guilty of murdering husband

A WOMAN has been found not guilty of murdering her husband who she claimed had subjected her to almost two decades of abuse.

A jury yesterday returned a not guilty verdict for charges of murder and manslaughter against Michele Irsigler, who shot her husband Jonathan Watkins at their Montville home in 2001.

Ms Irsigler walked free from Brisbane Supreme Court this afternoon.

She was found guilty of interfering with a corpse and sentenced to a wholly suspended one-year jail term.

Two men accused of being accessories to the murder, Russell Graham Pilkington and her current partner Jason Scott Bundesen, were also found guilty of interfering with a corpse.

During the trial, Ms Irsigler told the court she had been subjected to mental and physical abuse from her husband.

The court heard he had kept her hostage in the family home for three days before she shot him on July 25, 2001.

He was reported as a missing person until Mr Pilkington, who helped Ms Irsigler move the body, made a drunk confession to the incident years later.

Mr Bundesen took the body to an area of his property where he doused it in diesel and burnt it for several days.

No trace of Mr Watkins was ever found.

Views: 0

You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Leave a Reply

Powered by WordPress | Designed by: Premium WordPress Themes | Thanks to Themes Gallery, Bromoney and Wordpress Themes