QLD:Man guilty of murdering and torching wife

AAP General News (Australia)
04-19-2011
QLD:Man guilty of murdering and torching wife

EDS: Reissuing to correct Spina's age in par 2 on updated advice



By Christine Flatley

BRISBANE, April 19 AAP - A man has been found guilty of brutally murdering his estranged
wife and setting fire to her body.

After more than three days of deliberations, the Brisbane Supreme Court jury returned
on Tuesday morning to declare Jason Michael Spina, 38, guilty of the murder of 26-year-old
Haley Elizabeth Mauree Allison.

Spina pleaded guilty to her manslaughter at the start of the trial, but denied it was
intentional.

He claimed he was provoked into strangling and repeatedly stabbing her after she threw
petrol on him and set it alight.

Prosecutor Glen Cash said the jury's verdict made it clear they rejected this claim,
and instead accepted that Spina's burns were sustained when he set fire to Ms Allison.

During the trial the court heard Spina carried out the attack shortly after the pair
separated in October 2009.

Ms Allison's burnt body was found at her parents' Caboolture home two months later.

The court heard the pair had argued immediately prior to Ms Allison's death, but that
the exact circumstances that sparked the assault were still unclear.

"Precisely what happened that night will never be known because Haley Allison's voice
will never be heard," Justice Peter Applegarth said.

"Some things can be said about what happened.

"She was brutally murdered. You strangled her then you repeatedly stabbed her."

Justice Applegarth sentenced Spina to life imprisonment.

The verdict was met with cheers from Ms Allison's friends and family, who described
Spina outside court as a "dog".

Extra security guards were called in when the verdict was handed down, after a violent
altercation between supporters from both sides erupted outside the courtroom on Monday.

One woman was taken to hospital after being punched in the face.

Police are investigating the incident.

AAP cf/crh/jlw/nb

KEYWORD: SPINA (REISSUING)

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