An emotionally manipulative killer who pressured her boyfriend to change his will so she could inherit a multimillion dollar farm after murdering him and faking his suicide has been handed a 40-year jail sentence.
Natasha Beth Darcy, 46, will likely spend the rest of her life in jail after NSW Supreme Court Justice Julia Longeran imposed a 30-year non parole period for the murder of sheep farmer Mathew Dunbar.
Darcy sat stony-faced and showed no emotion as she learned her fate, appearing in court via videolink from the Dillwynia Correctional Centre in Sydney.
The court heard all Mr Dunbar, 42, wanted was to share his love and good fortune with a partner who he could provide for, care for and cherish when Darcy sought him out for a relationship online in 2014.
After moving in to Mr Dunbar’s $3.4m property at Walcha, about 90 kilometres east of Tamworth, Justice Longeran said Darcy “harangued” him to change his will in 2015 to make her the sole beneficiary.
Two years later in August 2017, Darcy used a blender to make a Mr Dunbar a drink containing a cocktail of drugs.
Once Mr Dunbar was sedated in bed, the court heard Darcy placed a helium cylinder beside him, put a plastic bag over his head, secured it with an elastic band and turned on the helium which he paid for and collected from a service station a day earlier while she waited in the car.
Mr Dunbar’s cause of death was asphyxiation, however Darcy continues to deny any wrongdoing and claims he committed suicide.
The court heard Darcy, often referred to as the Widow of Walcha, took deliberate steps to make Mr Dunbar’s death look like suicide.
This included sending a fake suicide note from Mr Dunbar’s phone, after his death, to her paramedic ex-husband Colin Crossman which read “tell police to come to house, I don’t want Tash or kids to find me”.
In an attempt to deceive authorities, the court heard Darcy wiped the history on her phone after she killed Mr Dunbar as part of efforts to hide dozens of entries in search engines she made to research ways to kill her lover.
Widow of Walcha's internet searches
Poisonous mushrooms, poisonous fungi, spider venom, dangerousxjmtzyw plants, spinal tap, epidural, drugs for suicide and medicine for death were among the terms Darcy searched.
“Throughout four police interviews she told many lies in relation to matters such as Mathew’s mental health, physical health, sexuality, sexual health, relationships, financial position and his ability to run his business,” Justice Longeran said.
“The offender told many lies in an attempt to deceive the investigating police in relation to her knowledge of the contents and effect of Mathew’s will, ordering the helium, her purchase of the various sedatives and her internet history.
“Greed was her motive. Deception, lies and manipulation were quickly applied before and after she killed him. Her lies and methods were stupid, clumsy and ugly, but were sadly successful in achieving Mathew’s death … they were not however good enough to evade detection.”
Justice Longeran said Darcy murdered Mr Dunbar for financial gain and she had a history of “emotionally manipulating and gaslighting” him.
“The offender was callous, relentless and heartless in her pursuit to get rid of Mathew.
“This murder involved a very high degree of planning for well over three months.
“The offender has shown nothing remotely resembling remorse or contrition.”
The court heard Darcy was a serial domestic violence offender who was on parole when she killed Mr Dunbar because of a violent attack on her ex-husband.
“I cannot find that the offender is a person of good character given her criminal record which included sentences of imprisonment in 2019 for hitting her husband Colin Crossman on the head with a hammer whilst he slept and setting fire to their house with the admitted aim of obtaining the insurance money, larceny and multiple counts of dishonestly obtain property by deception involving the unauthorised use of the credit card of another man with whom the offender was in a domestic relationship,” Justice Longeran said.
Darcy will be eligible for parole in 2047.
Mental health support
