A middle-aged woman was found guilty of murdering an elderly man with a frypan after dinner inside his South Coogee apartment.
On 20 December 2020, 77-year-old Peter McCarthy was found dead on the floor of his flat with a bent frying pan, broken furniture and glasses found next to his body. Narelle Fiona Smith, 46, was arrested and charged with the murder of the pensioner. She pleaded not guilty to murder.
Ms Smith’s accounts, however, were rejected by an NSW Supreme Court jury on 16 November 2022 and found her guilty of murdering Peter McCarthy after dinner on 17 December 2020.
Submissions on the sentence will begin on 3 February 2023.
DNA evidence and fingerprints matching Smith’s and McCarthy’s profiles had been found on objects throughout the unit, including the blue tarp partly covering the elderly man’s legs.
Upon her arrest on 11 January 2021, Smith denied murdering the retired solicitor and initially told police that she didn’t really know him. The parolee later told police a different story stating that they met in his flat after the elderly man greeted her via text for her 46th birthday.
According to her, she helped Mr McCarthy with chores, cleaned out the belongings of his ex-lover, cooked him dinner and listened to him detailing “minor dramas with local women” before leaving at about 8 pm. She also explained that her blood might be in the unit as she previously cut herself whilst fixing McCarthy’s deadlock.
She instead pointed the finger at McCarthy’s ex-lovers who she said had a key to his flat. Crown prosecutor Katharine Jeffreys, however, argued that Smith was “inconsistent on how well she knew the deceased” and that no evidence of a break-in or a “forensic evidence in any relevant locations of an unknown individual” was found.
Prosecutors also alleged that after the murder, a man known by Smith used McCarthy’s ATM cards and that Smith herself also used his Opal card to travel around Sydney.
McCarthy’s ex-wife admitted during the trial that their strained relationship was due to his drinking habits and “fondness for the ladies.” Still, they maintained communications and even organise Christmas gatherings every year.
She said she discovered McCarthy’s lifeless body after he didn’t respond to her messages.
