Court releases images from Bogie cattle station murders as killer begins 40-year minimum term
Photos from the trial of convicted triple murderer Darryl Valroy Young have been released, showing the bloody aftermath of the Bogie cattle station killings and
Photos from the trial of convicted triple murderer Darryl Valroy Young have been released, showing the bloody aftermath of the Bogie cattle station killings and the evidence police say tied him to the crime. The images lay bare how the shooting unfolded at the gate of his property in northern Queensland, where three neighbours died and a fourth man survived with a gunshot wound.
Young, now 36, was sentenced on Monday to life in prison with a non-parole period of 40 years after a Supreme Court jury found him guilty of three murders and one attempted murder. The court has said the term is believed to be the longest ever imposed by a Queensland judge. He will spend decades behind bars before he can even seek release.
What the photos show
The released images include the scene of the shooting and material recovered from Young’s cattle station after the killings. Police found his dark grey Nissan Navara ute used to travel to and from the triple murder, along with an open rifle case in the back seat. Investigators also recovered an orange work shirt that matched the clothing Ross Tighe said Young was wearing during the attack.
The photographs help trace the sequence police presented at trial: Young drove to the gate of the Bogie station on 4 August 2022, shot Mervyn Schwarz, 71, Maree Schwarz, 59, and Graham Tighe, 35, and then fled. Ross Tighe escaped the scene with a gunshot wound. He still lives with the deformed bullet lodged in his hip.
The failed alibi
Prosecutors said the trial evidence showed Young tried to build an alibi after the shooting, but the physical evidence undercut that effort. The ute, the rifle case and the shirt all became part of the case against him. So did the location itself: a remote cattle station gate where neighbours had gathered before the attack.
The release of the photos gives a sharper public view of a case that has already left a deep mark on the Bogie district. For the families of the dead, the courtroom images now sit alongside a sentence that will keep Young in prison for the rest of his working life and beyond.
Ross Tighe’s survival also remains central to the case. He was the only one of the four people shot that day to live, and the injury that left a bullet in his hip is now a lasting record of the attack. The court’s evidence shows just how close the violence came to wiping out everyone at the gate.
