A homeless fruit picker was today convicted of murder and arson for starting a fire that burnt down an Australian backpackers' hostel killing 15 young travellers, including an Irish woman.
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Robert Long
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A Brisbane Supreme Court jury of seven women and five men reached the verdict after nearly two days of deliberations and 19 days of testimony in the trial of Robert Paul Long (38).
Long had pleaded innocent to murder and arson charges following the June 2000 blaze at the Palace Backpackers Hostel in Childers, a farming community 190 miles north of Brisbane.
Julie O'Keeffe (24) from Limerick died in the fire. Six Britons, four Australians, two Dutch, a South Korean, and a Japanese traveller also died.
The trial heard that Long made little attempt to conceal his growing hatred of backpackers in the weeks leading up to the fire at the hostel.
He threatened to kill one Indian man, with whom he shared a room, after accusing him of stealing his money and told a local resident that "if the locals didn't start bashing some of these backpackers to drive them out of town" he would oblige.
At one point, he was even overheard intimating to a guest in the hostel that he would burn the building down.
AP, PA