Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
AAP
AAP
National
Cheryl Goodenough

Life sentence for Qld Father's Day murder

Alex Robert Smart has been found guilty of murder after a Father's Day altercation. (AAP)

Stopping at a red light had deadly consequences for a dad on his way to celebrate Father's Day with his five children.

Tylor Bell pulled up in a ute at the intersection in Gympie, north of Brisbane, on September 1, 2019 after leaving a shopping centre where he and Alex Robert Smart got into an altercation.

Smart drove in the same direction in the back of a silver sedan.

The events that followed culminated in a Brisbane Supreme Court jury finding Smart guilty of murder on Thursday.

"There was the bad luck or fate the two vehicles pulled up at the lights on the Bruce Highway," Justice Peter Applegarth told Smart in handing down his sentence.

"If the utility had gone through the traffic lights before your car had to stop there, we probably wouldn't be here now."

Justice Applegarth said Smart probably would have calmed down.

But instead the now 29-year-old got out the sedan and plunged a knife through the car window so deep into Mr Bell's chest it penetrated his heart.

Mr Bell drove to a nearby hospital after the stabbing, but went into cardiac arrest and died a week later.

The one major cause of Mr Bell's death was Smart's unlawful, intentional and malicious use of a knife in anger, Justice Applegarth said.

"It had deadly consequences," he added.

"One man is dead. Your life is ruined. Five children are left without a father. Others have lost a son, a brother. Friends have lost a good friend."

The trial heard Mr Bell and his father Gregory went to get groceries as the younger man's five children were visiting for Father's Day.

As they were leaving there was "a quick exchange" between Mr Bell and Smart, who was at the main entrance.

Gregory Bell was overheard saying to his son "if you want to stop I will get out and flog him" before punching Smart, who responded by kicking out.

The men left in the two vehicles after being separated by witnesses.

Justice Applegarth said the source of tension between the men remained a mystery.

"There must have been some pre-existing problem between you, on the one hand, and the Bells on the other," he told Smart.

Mr Bell's mother Teresa said her son, known as TJ, had the "sweetest heart".

"I am angry at how TJ was taken away from us, how TJ died, as though his life didn't matter, but TJ's life mattered," she said in a statement read to the court.

Defence barrister Jakub Lodziak said Smart was deeply remorseful about Mr Bell's death and had nightmares about the incident.

He had suffered a broke jaw from being king hit in prison after his arrest.

The court heard he had a minor criminal history that did not include acts of violence.

Justice Applegarth sentenced Smart to life behind bars, calling him to educate himself and others in jail that aggression and knives are not the answer to any problem.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.