Justice for family of farmer bashed to death during home invasion
There was justice today for the family of a farmer bashed to death during a western Sydney home invasion.
A NSW Supreme Court jury found 28-year-old Ryan David Evans guilty of murder and a second robbery which left another property owner with permanent brain damage.
For the family of Keith Cini, the burden of grief is overwhelming.
It is three years to the day since the pig farmer was viciously bashed inside his Badgery's Creek home.
Evans broke in, armed with a pick handle, to steal takings from the previous day's livestock sales, worth up to $20,000.
Cini's partner, Lucy Boldi, was also bashed, but she managed to survive by pretending to play dead.
A month earlier, Evans was behind another home invasion near Bowral in which homeowner Brett Delamont was left with severe brain damage.
Evans was found guilty of six of seven charges relating to the attacks at Mr Delamont's home in Medway in the NSW Southern Highlands on April 28, 2014, and at Mr Cini's home on May 30.
Mr Cini's partner, Lucina Boldi, gave evidence of the terrifying attack.
"I didn't move," she told the jury, saying she had been woken in the early hours to see Mr Cini being attacked by two men in the hallway.
She was knocked to the ground by her assailant, who kept hitting her, despite her begging him to stop.
"Was there a point when he did stop?" Crown prosecutor Chris Maxwell QC asked.
"When he thought I was dead," she replied.
Two co-offenders, former friends of Evans who cannot be named, gave evidence against him.
One said Evans used a pick handle to bash a tied-up Mr Cini five or six times in the head with "extreme force".
After they fled from the house, the man said he was pretty sure Evans said Mr Cini "died when I caved his f***ing* skull in".
After the verdicts were delivered Adam Adam spoke to the media about his father-in-law Mr Cini.
"Today's outcome won't bring back my wife's father, Keith Cini, who was loved very much by his family and friends," he said.
The family hoped Evans and his fellow offenders will have many years away to think about their crimes.
"The community will be a little bit safer."
Evans will face a sentencing hearing on June 30.
