On 21 March 2004, Sharpe and his family attended a nephew's birthday party. Others present at the party noticed no tension or arguments between the couple On 23 March, Sharpe and his wife argued before retiring to bed. He later left the bed and retrieved the speargun from the backyard garage. Returning to the bedroom, Sharpe fired the spear from a distance of a few centimetres into his wife's left temple. Noticing his wife was still breathing, Sharpe fired a second spear into her head, killing her. He then covered the body in towels and went downstairs to sleep on a sofa bed.
The next day, Sharpe attempted to remove the spears but failed, removing only the shafts by unscrewing them from the heads. That same day, Sharpe took Gracie to, and then collected her from, her childcare centre. He also lied to a TV serviceman who came to the house. He later buried his wife in a shallow grave in their backyard.[1] Some time after his wife’s death, Sharpe returned to Sport Phillip Marine (accompanied by his daughter) and purchased another spear for the speargun.
On 27 March 2004, Sharpe put his daughter Gracie to bed in her cot and then drank several glasses of whiskey and Coke in order to "numb his senses." He retrieved the speargun from the garage, loaded it with the newly acquired spear, and fired at his daughter's head, penetrating her skull. With his child wounded and screaming loudly, Sharpe retrieved the two spear shafts which he had earlier removed from his wife's head and returned to the bedroom. He fired both into Gracie's head, but she was still alive, so he withdrew one spear and fired it again, finally killing her. He returned to her bedroom the next morning and pulled the spears from her head. Sharpe then wrapped her body in garbage bags and a tarpaulin and disposed of her body at the Mornington refuse transfer station. At the same time he discarded the speargun, the spears and some of Gracie's clothes and toys.[1]
John Sharpe was known as the Mornington Monster after he used a speargun to kill his wife and daughter.
Gracie Kemp was shot with a speargun to the head thrice by her father
Aftermath
On 29 March 2004, Sharpe visited a local Bunnings Warehouse hardware store in Frankston, where he purchased a roll of duct tape, two tarpaulins, and an electric chainsaw. The following day, he exhumed Kemp and cut her into three pieces. He then wrapped the remains in a tarpaulin and disposed of them, along with the chainsaw, in waste collection bins at the Mornington Transfer Station. On the same day he sent a forged e-mail to Kemp's family in New Zealand to create the impression she was alive and well. Rather than comfort the family, his e-mail raised further concerns, and Kemp's mother reported her disappearance to police in Dunedin, New Zealand. Sharpe later told police that Kemp had moved to the nearby Melbourne suburb of Chelsea with their daughter, and denied any knowledge of or involvement in her disappearance. He also arranged for flowers in Kemp's name to be delivered to his mother-in-law on her birthday.
During May 2004, Sharpe gave several media interviews, and appeared on national television speaking of his wife and child's disappearance. In part of his appeal he said: "Anna, our marriage may be over but I still love you and you are the mother of our beautiful daughter Gracie, whom we both adore more than anyone else".[6] Sharpe then said he had spoken to his wife a week earlier and he asked for anyone with information to come forward.[1] He however also maintained that she had run off with another man.[7]
Arrest and conviction
On 20 May 2004, New Zealand Police requested Victoria Police to conduct enquiries into the apparent disappearance of Kemp and Gracie. The same day, police from Mornington attended the Sharpe home and spoke with him. On 10 June, he was again interviewed by police in Mornington but he maintained the story that Kemp had left voluntarily on 23 March. On 22 June 2004, police arrested Sharpe and interviewed him twice: during his first interview, he continued to deny any knowledge of their whereabouts, but during the second, having spoken to his family, he admitted to both murders. He told police he killed his wife because she was "controlling and moody" and their marriage was unhappy.[8] He also told police he "was thinking of taking care of Gracie by myself and just amongst all this madness ... that's when I lost the plot". According to some family members, Sharpe may have also killed his wife because she discovered his abuse of Gracie. The claim comes as family letters reveal Sharpe had a history of sexually abusing children.
Police undertook a massive search lasting three weeks of the Mornington landfill site, and eventually recovered both bodies. Both were buried in Green Park Cemetery, Dunedin, under Kemp's birth name. Gracie's birth and death certificates were posthumously edited to read "father unknown".
Sharpe appeared in the Supreme Court of Victoria where he was arraigned and pleaded guilty to the murders. On 5 August 2005, the Court sentenced Sharpe to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 33 years. Sharpe resides in protective custody while incarcerated, due to threats on his life from fellow prisoners.
Former banker turned conveyancer John Sharpe used a speargun to kill his 20-month-old daughter Gracie in March 2004 at their home in the Melbourne suburb of Mornington.
She was shot four times four days after her pregnant mother Anna Kemp was also killed at the hands of Sharpe.
The Victorian Supreme Court was told Sharpe used a chainsaw to dismember his wife’s body and he disposed of his family’s remains at the Mornington rubbish tip.
In the immediate aftermath of the murders Sharpe tried to claim Anna left him for another man and taken Gracie with her.
Police later discovered Sharpe had used Anna’s ATM card at a bank and emailed her mother pretending to be Anna.
Eventually Sharpe confessed and when asked why he killed Gracie he said he did not know.
“When you’re sort of insane, your mind’s all over the place,” he said.
Sharpe is currently serving two life sentences for the murders. He will be eligible for parole after 33 years behind bars.