News Service from House Harris

Qld: Man who decapitates teenager has appeal reserved

BRISBANE, Feb 6 AAP - The Queensland Court of Appeal has reserved a man's appeal against his conviction for the brutal murder and decapitation of a homeless teenager.

James Patrick Roughan was 27 in July 2008 when he was found guilty by a Brisbane Supreme Court jury, for the second time, of murdering Morgan Jay Shepherd on March 29, 2005 at Sandgate, north of Brisbane.

Mr Shepherd was just 17 when he was stabbed 133 times and decapitated, before his head was used as a puppet.

Roughan and co-accused Christopher Clark Jones, then 23, were jailed for life.

Witnesses told the court the two had bragged about the murder and Roughan had also used Mr Shepherd's head as a puppet.

After being found guilty of murder in the first trial with Jones, Roughan appealed the verdict in the Court of Appeal in Brisbane in December 2007 and won the right to a retrial by himself.

Unsuccessful in both trials, Roughan has once again appealed his conviction, which was reviewed in the Brisbane Court of Appeal on Friday.

Roughan's lawyer argued that other than two admissions made by Roughan about the murder, all other prosecution evidence was circumstantial and the crown didn't have a strong case.

His lawyers argued that the admissions were too minor to make a case for murder.

While the defence admitted Roughan was involved in the mutilation and disposal of Mr Shepherd's body, they argued there was no evidence that proved Roughan was involved in the actual killing of Mr Shepherd.

The defence argue that Roughan was only a passive onlooker and was too scared to stop the murder.

However, during the appeal, Justice Patrick Keane stated that the defence's argument was unlikely.

"A passive observer is very, very unlikely to participate in the unspeakable acts that took place afterwards, such as dismembering the body," Justice Keane said.

The Court of Appeal reserved its decision.