A mother has described her family’s “tsunami of pain” as a man has been jailed for the torture and manslaughter of her son.
Michael Bradley Small has been sentenced to 14 years in jail over the “depraved and concerted” death of Andrew Wright Stephens.
A Brisbane Supreme Court jury last week found Michael Bradley Small guilty of manslaughter.
Credit: FFX
Small, 37, had been found not guilty of murdering Stephens, his partner’s friend, on August 30, 2020.
But a Brisbane Supreme Court jury last week found Small guilty of manslaughter after the decomposed body of Stephens was found at his home at Taringa, inner Brisbane, on September 3, 2020.
The jury heard police did a welfare check after Stephens uncharacteristically failed to respond to calls from his mother, finding his body covered with a blanket and a pink sex toy nearby.
Prosecutors said during the two-week trial that the torture and killing of Stephens was the “fairytale ending” for Small after eight months of growing hostility between the men.
The court heard Small, an escort, disliked Stephens for interfering in the 37-year-old’s relationship with Scott Richard Gordon.
The Crown alleged Stephens let Gordon into his house in the early hours of August 30, with Small entering separately.
The court heard Small kicked and punched Stephens in the head before struggling with the naked 48-year-old and taping his mouth.
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