‘I’ll kill them’: cop killer’s words before shooting
Ethan James |
A man who shot dead a beloved police officer who was attempting to repossess his home had earlier told a friend “I will kill them, no one is going to take my house off me”.
Leigh Geoffrey Sushames, 47, hid behind a blue Ford Falcon holding a rifle in the carport of his rural property in northwest Tasmania on June 16, 2025, as two officers approached.
He had been told 12 days earlier by police they would be returning to follow through on a court’s repossession order over outstanding mortgage payments spanning years.
Sushames was first spotted behind the car by Constable Keith Smith, 57, who asked him how he was going.
Sushames replied “not good” before standing up and fatally shooting Const Smith from less than two metres away, once in the back and a second time in the head.
Const Smith’s colleague Sergeant Gavin Rigby ran into bushland before radioing for help from three special operations officers who were stationed further from the house.
They fired towards Sushames, hitting him from the hand and disarming him.
A sentencing hearing in the Supreme Court of Tasmania in Burnie on Friday was told Sushames had stopped paying his mortgage in 2016 because of the belief God would “sort it out”.
Sushames pleaded guilty to murder in January and has also entered pleas of guilty to attempted murder and aggravated assault.
Crown prosecutor Daryl Coates SC said Sushames had avoided contact with bank representatives who went to his home, prompting the courts and police to become involved.
He showed bank documents to a friend in 2024, saying words to the effect “I will kill them or shoot them but nobody is going to take my house off me”, Mr Coates said.
His friend believed it was a figure of speech, Mr Coates said.
Sushames had previously held a gun licence which was suspended in 2016 due to information police had acquired about his mental health.
The killing was akin to an execution, Mr Coates said, saying Sushames had no relevant prior convictions and police had assessed the job as low risk.
“He must have contemplated a violent confrontation,” Mr Coates said.
“There was nothing in the police conduct that would have caused (Sushames) to become enraged.”
Sushames’ lawyer Greg Richardson said his client did not know why he did what he did.
Sushames had an abusive childhood leading to intense religious beliefs and was suffering from undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder, Mr Richardson said.
He also experienced psychotic episodes as a result of using cannabis.
“He formed the belief that God was somehow going to intervene and sort out his mortgage problems,” Mr Richardson said.
The incident was the first fatal shooting of an officer in Tasmania in more than a century.
Const Smith, who had served for 25 years, was farewelled with full ceremonial police honours and a street procession.
Being told of Const Smith’s death at a local police station felt like a terrible dream, his older brother Christopher Smith said.
“There are no more phone calls and there is no more dropping in for a quick cuppa. This hole in my life can never be filled,” he told the court.
“The hurt and sadness never goes away but I feel so proud to be your brother.”
Const Smith’s wife Janaha said her husband had been lost in a senseless way and his step-daughter Ava was now without the only father she knew.
Sushames will be sentenced on June 26.
AAP