September 28, 2005

The wife of a serial killer who now faces being locked away indefinitely has claimed his time in the Queensland Ambulance Service may have turned him into a murderer.

Francis Michael Fahey, 52, of Narangba north of Brisbane, was convicted of the killings after a seven-man, five-woman jury deliberated for just four hours yesterday.

Crown prosecutor Peter Feeney will apply to the Attorney-General for consent to seek an indefinite life sentence from the Supreme Court. Fahey was remanded in custody.

In police interviews Fahey confessed to the murders of Jasmin Crathern at Hendra on August 8, 2002, and Julie Louise McColl at Bald Hills on February 26, 2003.

"Definitely the wrong thing to do, killing anyone is wrong," Fahey said.

"I spent all my (expletive) life saving lives, now I'm taking them and I don't know why. Thank Christ it wasn't any of my own family."

In interview tapes played to the court, Fahey told police he had snapped and stabbed the women – both prostitutes who worked off the streets of Fortitude Valley – to death, but could not remember the incidents or explain why.

During the two-week trial, the court heard Fahey was linked to the murders by unique tyre and boot prints, DNA profiles from blood found on his shoes, in his car and on a military bayonet found at his house, and semen on Crathern's shirt, and by security vision and witness sightings of his distinctive dual-cab utility truck.

Ropes and tool marks on crimps – metal pieces which stop rope from fraying – used to tie McColl were also consistent with ropes and the markings of tools found at Fahey's home during a police search in May 2003.

But outside the court Beth Fahey, his wife of 13 years, said her husband was not capable of such offences, and the only possible explanation was his struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder.

"I still cannot believe in my heart that the man that I've lived with all those years is capable of doing this. He's quite a loving and caring and gentle person," Mrs Fahey said.

The court heard Fahey had been treated for post-traumatic stress disorder for a number of years – a condition believed to have been triggered by 11 years in the Queensland Ambulance Service in central Queensland.

Mrs Fahey said her husband's symptoms had been ignored and he had been mistreated by medical professionals, treated with medication only and not offered counselling.

"All I know is Mr Fahey is a sick man, and that's the only way I can look at it – that he's done this at a time when he has been unable to cope," she said.

"This was a desperate man who desperately wanted to get better and I honestly don't know what's gone wrong. I cannot to this second believe that Mike could kill anybody, because he is the gentlest and most loving person I've ever met in my life."

Defence barrister Rick Taylor argued that there were legitimate explanations for the presence of the DNA, there was the possibility of evidence being mishandled throughout the case, and Fahey's admissions were those of an isolated, stressed and psychologically frail person who had accepted what police had told him.

Detective Superintendent Mike Condon said the verdict was a fitting end to more than two years of hard work by the large Taskforce Midas team.

"We're very pleased with the results, and we hope now for some closure for the families involved in what has been a very difficult investigation," Supt Condon said.

Indefinite sentences in Queensland are granted only for prisoners who are considered to be a continuing threat to the community or whose crimes are of extreme violence.