Grandmother googled murder penalties before ex-partner’s death: court – The Age — All circumstantial, of course.

A grandmother used the internet to search “pre-meditated + murder + penalties” shortly before her ex-partner was found strangled in a lounge chair west of Brisbane, a court has been told.

Diana Fae Hughes, 57, faced the Brisbane Supreme Court this morning accused of killing her de facto Gregory Ross Stewart, 52.Killer Granny

Police found him dead in front of a television in August 2006, with several ropes tied to his body.
[…]
Earlier that day, she had cut Mr Stewart with a carving knife, the court was told.

Mr Boyle said Hughes had also been spotted reading an article about homicide on her work computer on the day of the murder.

The court was told that when Hughes was asked about it, she replied: “Greg’s got all these guns in the house and he might try and kill me. I’m looking up how long he’ll go to jail.”




  1. yanikinwaoz says:

    “Greg’s got all these guns in the house…”

    Strange… Queensland is a little more wild than the most states in Australia. But this sounds odd considering Australia’s tight gun control laws.

    All those guns must have been referring to his hunting rifles. At least in Western Australia, the state has controls on them too.

  2. Uncle Patso says:

    From the article:
    “Diana Fae Hughes, 57, faced the Brisbane Supreme Court this morning accused of killing her de facto Gregory Ross Stewart, 52.”

    I don’t get it. What’s a de facto Gregory Ross Stewart? Does everyone have one, or just Australian grandmothers?

  3. e? says:

    Only in Queensland.

    #2: a de-facto relationship is the Australian equivalent of common-law marriage.

  4. Fartacus says:

    I’m all for the conviction of murderers, etc…
    But am I the only one deeply disturbed by internet searches used as evidence? Is absolutely nothing we do private anymore? Internet searches as evidence are circumstantial, speculative, and unreliable at best. I’m also interested to know whether these searches were found out through computer forensics (with a warrant, I presume) or by asking google for searches from that IP, since google has no problem self-censoring for the chinese. Or was it google? I’m curious to know if grandma was a yahoo user… All the interesting questions are left unanswered I suppose

  5. Olo Baggins of Bywater says:

    Fartacus….all those searches are sitting in a cache on your PC.

  6. sargasso says:

    #5. which is why you should always use someone else’s PC for those incriminating searches.

  7. JimR says:

    Oh the irony.

    “Greg’s got all these guns in the house”… and he was strangled.

  8. The Monster's Lawyer says:

    Nobody makes homicide quite like Grandma use to.

  9. Mr. Fusion says:

    #4, Fartacus,

    Well, would it be evidence if granny had been asking around town on the best undetectable poisons? What if she had asked her doctor or butcher on the best part to sever for a quick death? How about if she had a copy of “A Thousand Ways to Kill Your Hubby and Get Away With It” sitting opened on the kitchen table?

    If those might be evidence she intended to kill her husband, then an internet search is also evidence. The idea hers is INTENT. Planning the murder is First Degree Murder while just doing it on the spur of the moment is Second Degree Murder. It will also negate a self defense claim.

    If having child porn on your computer can put you away, I fail to understand your desire to allow murderers to claim privacy.

  10. Cap'nKangaroo says:

    Isn’t it possible this was a deviant erotic self-asphyxiation gone bad? Just asking.

  11. yes.. strange text.


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