Glenn Usher-Clarke was seething after he was sacked from his Council job, dobbed in by old colleague Marty Sheahan for stealing a chainsaw, and it all came to a tragic and devastating end.
After being sacked for stealing from a council job he loved, Glenn Usher-Clarke spent years seething and brewing his hatred for an old friend who dobbed him in.
He moved interstate to help support his ailing mother and formed a plan to murder Marty Sheahan, then kill himself, the Coroners Court in Melbourne was told on Friday.
Usher-Clarke obtained a gun permit in NSW, despite worsening mental health and suffering three strokes that had altered his personality.
On Australia Day 2022, the 57-year-old was staying with his daughter in Warburton. He left two suicide notes and went to Mr Sheahan’s home where he shot him dead in front of his wife.
After the murder, Usher-Clarke went to a toilet block and took his own life. Before his death, he called and texted loved ones, including a friend whom he told: “I’ve just killed Marty, I’m ringing to say goodbye”.
Coroner Sarah Gebert, who is investigating the deaths of both men, indicated she would make a recommendation about the use of interstate gun permits in Victoria.
“I am acutely aware the circumstances of this case would have originally involved a criminal trial,” she told the court. “Unfortunately some questions may remain unanswered.”
Mr Sheahan’s family, including his two children and three stepchildren, attended the hearing.
His partner of 30 years, who called police after the shooting, wailed as details of his death were aired.
“The thought of not being with him was never a consideration, it was just Marty and me forever,” she said, in a statement read to court.
Usher-Clarke had known Mr Sheahan since they met as teenagers through junior football.
In the years before the shooting, he suffered three strokes and his family noticed significant changes to his personality, including heightened emotions and child-like behaviours.
Mr Sheahan, who worked in infrastructure at Yarra Ranges Council, recommended Usher-Clarke for a casual position at the council in 2015.
After a back injury, divorcing from his wife and suffering aneurysms, Usher-Clarke believed the council position was a “pinnacle” in his life, coronial investigator Alicia Thorp said.
“He saw it as an opportunity to break the cycle of unstable employment,” she said.
Mr Sheahan heard about the theft the same year and reluctantly told his supervisor, who later fired Usher-Clarke.
Detective Thorp said his hatred for Mr Sheahan had “festered” after the 2015 sacking.
He became depressed, withdrew from his friends and relocated to Narooma in NSW to be near his elderly mother, telling people he hated Mr Sheahan and he was “meant to be his f***ing mate”.
After his mother moved into assisted living and he fell out with one of his brothers, she said Usher-Clarke began plotting the murder.
He legally obtained a NSW gun permit and began a goodbye tour to visit friends he hadn’t seen for years as he moved back to the Yarra Valley, Det Thorp said.
NSW required Usher-Clarke to answer one medical question to get a gun licence, whereas in Victoria there were four, including mental health, alcohol or drug issues and conditions such as a stroke or brain injury, she said.
Det Thorp said Victoria’s process was “most certainly” more rigorous. However, she noted the state allowed interstate permit holders a three-month grace period to obtain a Victorian licence.
The coroner will deliver her findings at a later date.
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