Darryl Valroy Young, a 63-year-old Queensland cattle farmer sentenced to life imprisonment with a 40-year non-parole period for murdering three neighbours, has lodged an appeal against both his conviction and sentence just days after it was handed down. Young was found guilty following a four-week trial at the Queensland Supreme Court in Townsville of murdering Mervyn Schwarz, his wife Maree, and her son Graham Tighe, and of attempting to murder Ross Tighe, in a shooting at the gate of his cattle station at Bogie in August 2022. The case attracted attention as the sentence is believed to be the longest ever imposed by a Queensland judge, a decade above the mandatory 30-year minimum for multiple murders.

The court heard Young shot the family, whom he believed had stolen his livestock, after summoning them to a meeting at his property gate. Ross Tighe survived after being shot in the lower torso and driving 40km to reach phone signal to alert police. Sentencing judge Justice Christopher Johnstone described Young's conduct as "thoroughly cowardly and absolutely ruthless", noting he had killed the victims "as if you were killing feral animals" despite them being human. Evidence at trial included a photograph of Young giving a thumbs-up six hours after the killings, and crime scene images showing the victims' bodies. Unless his appeal succeeds, Young will not be eligible for parole until he is 99.