{"id":731609,"date":"2026-06-12T10:10:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T10:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/731609\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T10:10:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T10:10:17","slug":"pair-who-killed-greenbushes-man-raymond-smith-given-lengthy-jail-sentences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/731609\/","title":{"rendered":"Pair who killed Greenbushes man Raymond Smith given lengthy jail sentences"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two men who killed a 68-year-old man at his own home during a meth-fuelled burglary in WA’s South West has been given lengthy prison terms.<\/p>\n

Warning: This story contains graphic descriptions of violence<\/p>\n

Raymond Smith was fatally assaulted in his Greenbushes home, about 240 kilometres south of Perth, in December 2023 during a robbery by three men who had gone there to steal cannabis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He was reported missing and his body was eventually found by homicide detectives almost a month later.<\/p>\n

A Supreme Court trial found James Terence Hunt, 33, guilty of Mr Smith’s murder, and Paul Douglas May, 43, guilty of his manslaughter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

James Hunt (left) and Paul May (right) were convicted by a jury earlier this month.\u00a0 (Supplied: Anne Barnetson)<\/p>\n

Hunt was today sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 21 years, while May was jailed for 17 years, but will be eligible for parole after serving 15.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘Gratuitous’ violence<\/p>\n

Justice Amanda Forrester said the men’s robbery plan was driven by a “desire to feed your methylamphetamine habits”.<\/p>\n

She said Hunt had engaged in “particularly gratuitous” violence, dragging Mr Smith by his hair to the bathroom, and stomping on him after binding his hands with cling wrap.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

James Hunt and Paul May entered the back door of Raymond Smith’s home with beanies pulled down over their faces.\u00a0 (Supplied: WA Supreme Court)<\/p>\n

Justice Forrester said Hunt stomped on Mr Smith’s torso a number of times with “severe force” and May helped restrain him.<\/p>\n

Neither man had shown remorse, she said.<\/p>\n

Mr Smith lived alone in his Greenbushes home, where he grew marijuana \u2014 making him a target for burglary by Hunt, May and a third man, Kevin Potter, the trial heard.<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

Mr Smith disappeared after the home invasion at his house in December, 2023, and was later found dead.\u00a0 (
\n ABC News: Anthony Pancia
\n )<\/p>\n

The trio were methylamphetamine users and had injected drugs before the burglary.<\/p>\n

Potter had previously been given a life sentence with a minimum of 15 years after pleading guilty to murder.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He was a friend of Mr Smith’s who admitted betraying him, and was the key witness against Hunt and May.<\/p>\n

Loving dad<\/p>\n

Mr Smith’s daughter Bronwyn told the court that while their relationship was complicated, he was a loving dad and grandfather.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She said she suffered anxiety and pain every time she thought about how her father felt as he was dying.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“His greatest fear was dying alone in his home,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Bronwyn Smith, daughter of Raymond Smith, commended the judge’s decision. (ABC News: Dave Weber)<\/p>\n

\u201cI keep imagining my father\u2019s broken body.\u201d<\/p>\n

Face bound with cling film<\/p>\n

The court heard that at the time of the murder, Hunt was on an intensive supervision order for aggravated burglary, stealing and drug offences.<\/p>\n

During the trial, Hunt pleaded guilty to assaulting a man in Bunbury.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

James Hunt pleaded guilty to another crime during the trial. (Supplied: WA Police)<\/p>\n

Hunt had bound the victim’s face with cling wrap, and stabbed him with a texta before banging his head on a bench.<\/p>\n

His sentence for that crime will be served concurrently with his murder sentence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two men who killed a 68-year-old man at his own home during a meth-fuelled burglary in WA’s South…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":731610,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,354102,354105,354106,354107,44,46,14666,86,354101,354104,354108,354103,1049,25962,14665,45],"class_list":["post-731609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-greenbushes-murder","tag-greenbushes-raymond-smith","tag-kevin-potter","tag-kevin-potter-murder","tag-news","tag-perth","tag-perth-courts","tag-perth-news","tag-raymond-smith","tag-raymond-smith-death","tag-raymond-smith-kevin-potter","tag-raymond-smith-murder","tag-supreme-court","tag-wa","tag-wa-courts","tag-wa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=731609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/731610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=731609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=731609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=731609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}