John Sharpe (Australian murderer)
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John Myles Sharpe (b. February 28, 1967), is an Australian currently serving life imprisonment for the murders of his wife and only child. The nature and events of the crime were in the words of the sentencing judge "too awful to contemplate".
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[edit] Early life
Sharpe met his wife, Anna Kemp, when they worked together at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Anna was four years his senior. They married in October 1994 and lived together in various locations around the Melbourne suburb of Mornington. Their daughter Gracie Louise Sharp was born August, 2002.
In 2003 Sharpe purchased a spear gun from a local dealer, plus a second spear. He had not previously been interested in spear fishing, and was known to have test fired the gun in his backyard only once.
On March 21, 2004, Sharpe and his family attended a birthday function for a nephew. Family members reported no arguments of any kind on this day.
[edit] Murder of Anna Sharpe
On March 23, 2004, Sharpe and his wife argued before retiring to bed about 10pm. He later left the bed and proceeded to his backyard garage to retrieve the spear gun. Returning to the bedroom, Sharpe fired the spear into his wife's head at point blank range. Noticing his wife was still breathing, Sharpe fired a second spear into her head, killing her. He then covered the body in towels and went downstairs to sleep on a sofa. The next day, Sharpe attempted to remove the spears from his wife's head but failed, removing only the shafts. He then buried his wife in a shallow grave in their backyard.
Five days after burying his wife he dug her up, after visiting his local warehouse to purchase a chainsaw. He cut her up into three pieces and dropped them off in different parts of Mornington, into bins to be taken to different tip locations.
[edit] Murder of Gracie Sharpe
On March 27, 2004 Sharpe put Gracie to bed in her cot and then drank several glasses of whisky. He retrieved the spear gun from the garage, loaded it with a newly acquired spear which he fired at her head, penetrating her skull. With his child screaming loudly after suffering horrendous injury, Sharpe retrieved the two spear shafts which he had earlier removed from his wife’s head and returned to Gracie’s bedroom. He fired both into Gracie's head, but realising she was still alive, he withdrew one spear from his child's head and fired again, killing her.
[edit] Disposal of evidence
On March 29, 2004, Sharpe purchased a roll of duct tape, two tarpaulins and a chainsaw from a local Bunnings Warehouse store. The following day he exhumed the body of his wife and cut it into three pieces. He wrapped the remains in a tarpaulin and disposed of them in a nearby waste disposal site.
[edit] Missing persons
On March 29, 2004, Sharpe sent a forged e-mail to Anna's family in New Zealand to create the impression Anna was alive and well. Rather than comfort the family, his e-mail raised further concerns, and Anna's mother reported her disappearance to police in Dunedin. Sharpe later told police that Anna had moved to nearby Chelsea with their daughter, and denied any knowledge or involvement in her disappearance. He also arranged for flowers in the name of his wife to be delivered to his mother-in-law on her birthday.
During May 2005, Sharpe gave several media interviews, and appeared on national television speaking of his wife and child's disappearance. Sharpe said he had spoken to his wife a week earlier and he asked for anyone with information to come forward.
[edit] Arrest
On June 22, 2005 police arrested Sharpe. During his first interview he continued to deny any knowledge of their whereabouts, but in a subsequent interview admitted to both murders. Police undertook a massive search of the Mornington landfill site over three weeks, and both bodies were found.
[edit] Sentencing
On August 5, 2005 the Supreme Court of Victoria sentenced Sharpe to life imprisonment, with a minimum non-parole period of 33 years, for the murders.
