48th Murderer – Keith Owen Goodbun - Victim: Molly Goodbun
A man who murdered his estranged wife by shooting her four times in the head and torso was sentenced to at least 31 years and one month behind bars for the "deeply shocking" crime.
Keith Owen Goodbun, 62, had an Apprehended Domestic Violence Order in place against him when he arrived at his wife's home at Horseshoe Bend, near Maitland in the Hunter region, just before 3am on October 7, 2016.
He crept up to the house, intending to let himself in with a key, and was armed with a knife and an unregistered bolt action .22-calibre rifle.
When he tried to enter the home through a sliding door, Molly Goodbun, 59 – who had woken to use the bathroom – stood in his way and pushed him back.
"I'll tell you what I'm here for you f---ing bitch," Goodbun told her. "This is the end of your life."
Goodbun had become increasingly agitated at the breakdown of the 40-year marriage and was angered at the prospect his wife would get money from the sale of the family home.
He was living in a caravan on a property near Taree and told a neighbour that any magistrate who gave his wife "anything of mine" was "only going to give her a death sentence".
After a struggle with his wife on the verandah of the home, Goodbun shot her once in the chest, then shot her three times in the head – including twice at close range – as she lay injured on the ground.
The couple's adult daughter, Bionca Simmons, ran to get help and grappled with her father for the gun but was hit in the head with the butt of the rifle. She tried in vain to give her mother first aid, however any of the four shots would have been fatal on their own.
On Wednesday, Justice Helen Wilson sentenced Goodbun to a maximum of 41 years and six months behind bars and a minimum of 31 years and one month for the "cold" and "premeditated" killing, which was at the very top of the range of seriousness.
The Supreme Court sentence also encompasses guilty pleas to the assault of his daughter, breaching the Apprehended Domestic Violence Order, and using the unregistered gun.
"The murder of Molly Goodbun was a chilling and deeply shocking crime. It may, without hyperbole, be described as an execution," Justice Wilson said.
"It was a crime which the offender resolved in advance to commit.
"It was clearly his intention that nothing would stop him from murdering his wife."
Justice Wilson said Goodbun had talked for some months about shooting his wife before he defiled what should have been the safety of her home, with the couple's daughter "very bravely" trying to stop him. She did not accept Goodbun showed remorse for the murder of his wife, a "vibrant woman with great capacity for joy" whose too-early and violent death had a great impact on those around her.
"This was no spontaneous and fleeting outburst of murderous rage," Justice Wilson said.
"It was a carefully planned and callously executed crime, motivated by a deep and long-held anger at Mrs Goodbun because she had sought to exercise her legitimate property rights, and because she had been instrumental in the issue of an interim ADVO and criminal charges against the offender."
Justice Wilson said domestic violence is a profoundly serious problem, with one woman each week killed by a current or former partner.
"Too often, these are crimes committed by men against women who have chosen to live a separate life – a decision the male partner is not prepared to accept," she said.
Molly
Goodbun
Keith Goodbun, now 63, will never be released from jail. He has been behind bars for 3½ years. Based on the average annual cost of Maximum Security Incarceration in 2020, should Goodbun live another 12 years to 75, his jail incarceration of 15½ years will have cost the NSW taxpayer $2.713 million circa ($175,000 p.a. X 15½ years).
Questions
Should the NSW state government amend its criminal codes so that where the level of proof is Beyond Any Doubt of Guilt that the death penalty may be sentenced for malicious unprovoked murder because Justice for the Innocent Victim should be a consideration amongst the Purposes of Sentencing?
Should other states and territories similarly amend their criminal codes?
Write responses to above two questions re 48th Murderer on the 'Peer Reviewer's Responses to Sentences Form' Word document