Murder trials, ruined reputations: court news that made headlines in 2025
Updated a day ago by Annika Rhoades
From a man being charged over the first fatal police shooting in a century, to a former Miss Australia's reputation being "in tatters" after emotionally abusing her ex-husband, 2025 saw some prominent court cases.
Our court reporters sat in on many of the biggest cases in Northern Tasmania to bring you inside the courtrooms.
Warning: This story contains details of fatalities and the sexual abuse of a child.
1. George Town murderer gets 23 years behind bars
The only murder trial to take place in Launceston's Supreme Court in 2025 was that of three men from George Town: Luke Anthony Shaw, Paul William Shaw and Patrick Kenneth Dolbey.
The trio stood accused of the murder of 34-year-old David Wayne Jenkins, who died after being stabbed 11 times in the back by Luke Shaw in George Town on Saturday night, October 22, 2022.
Luke Shaw's brother, Paul, and Dolbey were both charged with murder despite neither holding the knife - the prosecution argued they were complicit due to common unlawful purpose.
Each of the accused pleaded not guilty to a count of murder.
Self-defence had been a key issue during the murder trial, with Luke Shaw's lawyer arguing that his client had stabbed Mr Jenkins in defence of himself or his brother, with no intention of murder.
After a nearly three-week trial, the jury found Luke Shaw guilty of murder; Paul Shaw and Dolbey were each found guilty of manslaughter.
Victim impact statements were delivered by Mr Jenkins' family, who described the their devastation and the "irreparable damage" caused by his murder.
Luke Shaw was sentenced to 23 years' jail for murder, with a non-parole period of 16 years, backdated to October 23, 2022.
Paul Shaw was handed a four-year jail term for manslaughter, with a non-parole period of three years, backdated to the same time, meaning he is already eligible for parole.
Dolbey was sentenced to six years behind bars for manslaughter, and is not eligible for parole until he has served four years. This sentence was also backdated to October 22, 2022.
2. North Motton man charged with murder of police officer
A man charged over the first fatal police shooting in Tasmania in more than a century has faced court several times since mid-June, but is still yet to enter pleas.
Leigh Geoffrey Sushames was charged with the murder of Tasmania Police Constable Keith Smith.
Sushames was also charged with one count each of attempted murder and aggravated assault, with both charges stemming from the incident on June 16, when he allegedly shot and killed Constable Smith.
The matter remains ongoing as the defence team were awaiting reports and now are concerned about the alleged killer's security.
Constable Smith was killed at Sushames' property on Allison Road, North Motton, after he and a fellow officer attempted to serve a court-approved warrant to repossess the home.
The 57-year-old veteran officer had served with the police force for 25 years.
3. Former Miss Australia's reputation 'in tatters'
The case against former Miss Australia Kathryn Isobel Hay was one of the most prominent hearings to happen in the Launceston Magistrates Court.
Hay, a former Labor politician, had pleaded not guilty to a count of emotional abuse or intimidation of her former husband, which occurred during their marriage between 2014 and 2022.
During the hearing, which kicked off in 2024, Hay was accused of throwing a bowl of cereal at her ex-husband, making a throat-slitting gesture towards him, accusing him of cheating, telling him she wished she had never met him and that she wished she could die because he was mistreating her.
Magistrate Simon Brown found Hay guilty of the charge in March 2025, before sentencing her in July to seven months' jail, wholly suspended for two-and-a-half years.
While handing down the sentence, Mr Brown said her reputation was "obviously in tatters".
She was crowned Miss Tasmania and Miss Australia in 1999 before becoming the first person of Aboriginal descent to be elected to the Tasmanian Parliament in 2002 as a member for Bass.
4. Mother sentenced for crash that caused 3yo son's death
A tragic case to pass through the Launceston Magistrates Court was that of a mother who caused the death of her three-year-old son by failing to secure his child seat properly.
Cheyanne Taylor Logan-Radford initially pleaded not guilty in late 2024 to causing the death by negligent driving of her son in the early hours of March 22, 2024.
The matter was set to go to a hearing after Logan-Radford initially pleaded not guilty in November 2024, but was resolved when she changed her plea to guilty in May 2025.
The charge stemmed from the fact that the car seats of her two children, the three-year-old boy and his four-year-old sister, had not been properly secured.
Logan-Radford had fallen asleep and lost control when the car hit a gravel verge, skidding 37 metres before colliding with a bank and then a group of trees.
On July 29, she was sentenced by magistrate Simon Brown to five months' jail, wholly suspended for two years, fined $1100, and disqualified from driving for three years.
A 12-month community corrections order was also made, with a condition that the then 26-year-old must complete the EQUIPS addiction program.
Since being sentenced, she has appeared back in court on unrelated matters and has pleaded not guilty to charge of setting someone's car on fire, which allegedly caused $30,000 in damage.
5. Former LGH nurse sentenced for indecent assault
In June, a former nurse at the Launceston General Hospital (LGH) was successfully prosecuted and sentenced for sexually abusing a 12-year-old boy 36 years ago by touching and manipulating his genitals.
The ex-nurse abused the boy in March 1989, while the boy and his younger brother were staying overnight at the 31-year-old nurse's house.
In a statement to the court, the victim-survivor said for many years, he could not escape the "shame and guilt" he felt and became withdrawn and reclusive, suffering from low self-esteem, self-loathing and self-doubt.
"I trusted him, I thought he was great, but what he did was not okay," he said while his abuser was also in the court room.
The nurse pleaded not guilty to two counts of indecent assault, prompting a hearing in the Launceston Magistrates Court in 2024.
In May 2025, deputy chief magistrate Ken Stanton found the then 66-year-old ex-nurse guilty of committing the first count of indecent assault, but not the second.
"This constituted a significant breach of trust, having developed a friendship with the family," Mr Stanton had said.
The ex-nurse was sentenced to five months' jail, wholly suspended for 12 months.