Samuel Albert Campbell Convicted of Killing Friend in Snowy Mountains

A Kuma man who stabbed his friend more than 15 times in 2021 in a drug-fueled paranoid rage on a secluded Snowy Mountains road has been sentenced to 24 years in prison for murder.

Samuel Albert Campbell, 23, pleaded guilty in May to murdering his friend Nicholas Robertson and severely injuring another friend, Zane Quyder, on Shannon’s Flat Road, outside Cooma, in the early hours of February 15, 2021, two weeks before the trial began.

Justice Peter Girling said Thursday at the New South Wales Supreme Court that Campbell was laughing when Robertson, 38, yelled for him to stop stabbing him in the chest multiple times during a “violent and brutal assault”.

The court found that Campbell was on a 15-month community corrections order at the time of the attack and had a history of serious violent crimes.

A sentencing hearing earlier this month revealed that Campbell likely suffered from methamphetamine-induced psychosis after injecting himself with methamphetamine days before his murder.

Judge Girling told the court that Campbell was released from prison in 2020 and became homeless after breaking up with his girlfriend in the Quang Biyan area.

He told the court that Campbell had since moved into the house his childhood friend Quyder shared with his mother in Cooma.

While there, he borrowed Mr. Quyder’s clothes, slept on a mattress, and continued to inject methamphetamine with needles from Cooma Hospital.

Days before the murder, Campbell withdrew his full Centerlink payment to buy more methylamphetamine, becoming increasingly paranoid.

The court found that three days before the attack, Mr. Coeider saw Mr. Campbell looking out the window of his home and told people in passing cars that they were looking at Mr. Campbell.

“Everyone’s looking at me, it’s like they’re always looking at me,” Campbell told Koeider.

Mr. Quider said in court that he considered Mr. Robertson “like a father figure” and soon arrived at his home with a bottle of Scotch, according to a court hearing.

During a get-together at Mr. Coeider’s home, Campbell shared a phone message with his ex-girlfriend, accusing her of being unfaithful to him and having an affair with either Mr. Coeider or Robertson.

At one point, Mr. Quider overheard Mr. Robertson denying to Mr. Campbell that he had an affair with the woman.

On the night of the murder, Mr. Robertson asked Mr. Quider and Mr. Campbell to drive him home from Cooma to Adaminiby.

Campbell took a backpack with him on the trip, which contained a 20-centimeter knife he had left at Quyder’s house the previous year.

During the drive, the trio stopped to fill the jerry cans so they could fill the car later.

“Is that fuel for me?” Mr Campbell asked Mr Quider, who ignored the question.

“Why are you bringing me here? Are you going to kill me?” he asked again.

“I just don’t trust you.”

Campbell then asked Quyder to stop the car to urinate, then disappeared for up to 10 minutes and was found standing in the road.

Campbell then returned to his car and launched a deadly attack, stabbing Quider in the arm and stabbing Robertson repeatedly in the chest as he tried to flee.

“You’re killing me, you’re killing me,” cried Mr. Robertson, and Mr. Campbell laughed.

In court, Campbell then slapped Mr Robertson on the head and accused him of “disguising” his death, then said Mr Robertson disappeared into the bush on foot.

Quider, who was seriously injured, drove Robertson to Cooma Hospital, but paramedics were unable to revive him.

Judge Girling sentenced Campbell to 24 years in prison and 18 years without parole for Robertson’s murder.

In addition, Campbell was sentenced to seven years and two months in prison, with a non-parole period of five years and four months, from the date of the crime.

Campbell will be eligible for parole on August 14, 2041.

Loading