Robert Mathew Marshall was sentenced for manslaughter by the NSW Supreme Court. Photo: Julia Gomina.
Robert Mathew Marshall will spend at least the next three years and three months behind bars for killing 38-year-old Adam Cordingley in a case of “excessive self-defence”.
The now 43-year-old was originally charged with murder over the 23 March 2024 stabbing death but a jury found him guilty of manslaughter.
The court previously heard Mr Cordingley had been devastated when he learned his wife had a 12-month affair with Marshall that ended in mid-2023.
On the night of 23 March 2024, Marshall left the Terminus Hotel in Marulan (where he worked as a chef) and returned to his farm on Oallen Ford Road in Bungonia.
There he found Mr Cordingley on his property, wanting to speak about the affair.
A scuffle broke out between the two, during which Marshall used a hunting knife to stab Mr Cordingley three times. Two of those wounds proved fatal.
At the end of the trial, jurors rejected the then-42-year-old’s claims of self-defence when finding him guilty of a charge of manslaughter.
During his sentencing remarks, Justice Paul McGuire accepted it had been Mr Cordingley who was the “initial aggressor” that fateful night, as he was “fixated” on finding out the details behind the affair.
Marshall had pulled the hunting knife from its sheath during their conversation.
He told Mr Cordingley to leave several times, and when Marshall turned to walk away Mr Cordingley tore his t-shirt and punched him in the head.
Mr Cordingley said “did you stab me?” before Marshall ran off down the driveway and called Triple Zero.
“I find the offender became annoyed that the deceased was on his property and questioning him about the affair,” Justice McGuire said.
“His annoyance quickly escalated to anger and aggression … [the stabbings] were deliberate acts on the behalf of the offender.”
Justice McGuire accepted that Marshall hadn’t intended to harm or kill Mr Cordingley, but the fact he had armed himself and stabbed his victim three times showed his actions were “dangerous to a significant degree”.
“The acts of stabbing were deliberate … they were a spontaneous reaction to being punched,” he said.
“[However] the conduct was not a reasonable response to the circumstances.”
Justice McGuire said Marshall should have realised that by having the knife in the first place, he was exposing Mr Cordingley to a “serious risk” of injury.
He found Marshall’s offending was towards the lower end of the range of objective seriousness, that the offending hadn’t been planned, he had no prior criminal record, and that Marshall was a man of “prior good character”.
Justice McGuire was also satisfied Marshall was unlikely to reoffend in the future and his prospects of rehabilitation were good.
The court previously heard Mr Cordingley’s death had devastated his wife and four children.
It also heard Marshall expressed empathy for Mr Cordingley’s children and was genuinely remorseful for his actions.
“He expressed sadness and shock when he was told [Adam Cordingley] had died,” Justice McGuire said.
Justice McGuire sentenced Marshall to a total of six years imprisonment, backdated to begin on 27 April to take into account the 151 days he’s already spent in custody.
Marshall was handed a non-parole period of three years and eight months (also backdated), meaning he’ll be eligible to apply for release from 26 December 2029.
Original Article published by Claire Fenwicke on Region Canberra.
