Feuds can turn a molehill into a mountain, causing serious injury to one person or another. In 2017, 51-year-old Kevin Skeyhill was brutally murdered in the small town of Tungkillo, Australia, shocking the entire community, including his family, to the core. The entire case and subsequent investigation are covered in detail in Investigation Discovery's “Fear Thy Neighbor: Murder In The Outback,” which also features insightful interviews with the victim's family and officers involved in the investigation.
Kevin Skeyhill was found dead near his Tungkillo property
Kevin Skeyhill, recently separated from his wife, moved to the small town of Tungkillo in the Adelaide Hills in the hope of starting over. Despite his estrangement from his partner, he still maintained a healthy bond with his children – a son named Nicholas “Nick” Skeyhill and a daughter named Marlee Skeyhill. Kevin is described as a kind-hearted and compassionate man, but was also a loving father who took his children on long car rides and was there for them through thick and thin. Everything seemed to be going well, but fate had other ideas for him. On the fateful night of September 13, 2017, at around 10.30pm, the father of two was found dead in the driveway of his neighbour's house on Adelaide Road in Tungkillo.
When the police were called, they thoroughly inspected his body and the crime scene, looking for clues that could lead them to the killer. They discovered that 51-year-old Kevin had been stabbed multiple times with an 8-inch hunting knife. After the tragedy, his son Nick recalled the memories he had with his father, telling the Advertiser: “When I was a child, we would go on long car journeys, sometimes lasting up to an hour, and even though we were 100km away “When we were away from home, he knew everything.” local farmers and innkeepers by name. That still amazes me to this day.” He continued, “I couldn't have asked for a better role model to help me become the man I am today and I will miss him with all my heart forever.”
Kevin Skeyhill's feud with a neighbor ended fatally for him
A few weeks before his death, Kevin Skeyhill and his neighbor Darren Lorke began arguing about fences and stormwater drainage, as the latter demanded Kevin repair his drainage system as water used to flood his garden. As the argument became more heated over the weeks, Kevin set up several surveillance cameras around his property after noticing his neighbor was carrying a rifle. In addition to putting up “No Trespassing” signs and floodlights, he also complained to the police about the firearm, but to no avail. To prevent sewage from entering his property, Darren reportedly dug a trench in Kevin's garden. In response, he dug up his neighbor's garden and even threw chunks of earth from the garden onto his front door.
On the night of the murder, Kevin returned to his house with his heavily drunk friend and found his neighbor supposedly waiting for him on his property, hidden behind a bush. When he followed him and confronted him, Darren allegedly stabbed him multiple times on his property and called 911, claiming he had injured his neighbor in self-defense. He allegedly performed CPR on the seriously injured man until the police arrived. Immediately after arriving at the scene, authorities handcuffed 52-year-old Darren Lorke and took him into custody for the murder of his neighbor.
Darren Lorke is currently incarcerated in an Australian prison
Because Darren Lorke chose not to plead guilty to murder, the case ended up in court. In 2018, he stood trial for the murder of Kevin Skeyhill. Prosecutors claimed the killer had removed surveillance cameras from the victim's property before the stabbing and was ready to attack his neighbor with a knife in his possession. They argued that the defendant had already admitted to stabbing Kevin but pretended to have acted in self-defense. On the other hand, the defense argued that Darren was armed because he feared for his life and attacked Kevin in self-defense because he thought he and his friend would attack him.
A few weeks later, the jury took some time to deliberate and returned with a guilty verdict, convicting Darren Lorke of murder. The judge said: “In my view it does not matter whether the two were on your property and confronted you or whether it was just the deceased who confronted you. The thing is, they were both unarmed, heavily intoxicated, and posed no threat to you at all… The jury's verdict is consistent with the fact that you clearly knew that.” In early February 2019, Darren was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his crimes, which was reduced to 19 years because he had already served one year.
After the verdict, the victim's son, Nick, expressed his sadness in court, saying: “To tell you the truth, there is no way to summarize the full impact it has had on my life.” That's because Losing my father in such a terrible way changed my life forever. Because of Darren Lorke's actions, I will never see my wonderful father again.” Meanwhile, Kevin's daughter Marlee also spoke about the loss of her father. “It has become solid like concrete, like a cancer in my heart,” she said. Nick was relieved to finally see his father's murderer behind bars. He told ABC News: “There are no real winners, but it takes a lot of weight off our shoulders, we'll just try to rebuild from here.” As of today, Darren Lorke is serving his sentence in an Australian prion facility, waiting on his parole date.
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