Moree shooting: Farmer who fatally shot environment officer 'simply cracked', wife says
The wife of a NSW farmer accused of murdering an environment officer in Moree says her husband told her he had cracked and did not mean to kill the man.
Glen Turner was shot dead on a dirt road at Croppa Creek, near Moree, in July, while responding to reports of illegal land clearing.
Farmer Ian Robert Turnbull had been embroiled in a lengthy dispute with Mr Turner over the issue and was charged with his murder.
The 79-year-old unsuccessfully applied for bail in the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday.
In refusing bail, Acting Justice Anthony Blackmore said Turnbull continued to be a danger to all environment officers and the community.
Turnbull's wife, Robeena, told the court during the bail hearing her husband went home after the shooting and appeared wretched as he sat in a chair and waited for police to arrive.
"He said to me, 'I simply cracked. I didn't mean to kill him'," she said.
Mrs Turnbull was asked how her husband appeared at the time.
"He just appeared to be somewhere else," she said.
Mrs Turnbull said she had been living with one of her sons in Queensland since her husband's arrest and was travelling to Cessnock Correctional Centre on a weekly basis to visit him.
"It is a close family," she said.
Turnbull's barrister, Tony Bellanto QC, said his client had a number of health problems and his family would put up $300,000 bail and a further $1 million in surety if he were released.
The court heard Turnbull suffered peripheral neuropathy, which caused debilitating pain in his right leg.
