NSW: Brother pleads guilty to manslaughter over barking dog killing
06 Apr 2009 4:17 PM
SYDNEY, April 6 AAP - The brother of a Sydney woman convicted of murdering a neighbour after he complained about her barking dog has pleaded guilty to manslaughter over the same killing.
Katrina Megan Whitmore, 26, was last week found guilty of murdering Joseph Durrant, 47, in the early hours of January 27, 2007.
Whitmore has continually said it was her brother Frederick Reyon Whitmore, 35, who fatally stabbed Mr Durrant.
Mr Durrant was on his way home from alcohol-fuelled Australia Day celebrations when he complained about Whitmore's noisy dog and was attacked with a knife.
Whitmore's boyfriend and co-accused Steven Spiro Sotiropoulos, 34, who joined in the fracas in Phyllis Street, Mt Pritchard, was found not guilty of the same charge.
She said her brother confessed to the stabbing shortly after the death.
The siblings successfully applied to be tried separately and after two days of deliberations last week a NSW Supreme Court jury found her guilty on Wednesday.
Frederick Whitmore's murder trial was due to begin on Monday, but on the day his sister was found guilty he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.
Justice Michael Adams will hear sentencing submissions for Frederick Whitmore on May 22 and for his sister on May 29.
