ANDREW Wayne Flentjar has been found not guilty of murdering Nowra Hill couple Kathryn McKay and Greg Hosa on January 28, 2006.
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Flentjar fought back tears as the verdict was read and broke down briefly as Justice Terrence Buddin left the bench of the NSW Supreme Court sitting in Wollongong on Monday.
After deliberating for a day and a half, the jury of 10 men and two women found the prosecution failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Flentjar was at the Calymea Street, Nowra Hill, house of Kim Leanne Snibson when the murders occurred.
The 33-year-old maintained throughout the trial that although he helped overpower and tie up Mr Hosa and Ms McKay, he was at his home in Kalandar Street, Nowra East, when they were killed.
Outside court, Ms McKay’s father William McKay read a short statement.
“The families of Kathryn and Greg accept the not guilty verdict reluctantly,” he said.
“We won’t get over the horrific murders of our loved ones, we just have to live with it.”
Mr McKay, along with Mr Hosa’s cousin Judy Hedger and her husband Bob Hedger, thanked detectives Paul McCann and Jason Hogan, and Crown prosecutor Paul Leask and his counsel assisting Kim Stanley.
Flentjar is due to begin his sentencing hearings later this week in Sydney along with Snibson, 37, who pleaded guilty to kidnapping and murdering Mr Hosa and Ms McKay on May 28.
Stacey Lea-Caton, 29, of Nowra Hill, is serving a 22-year sentence for aiding and abetting in the murders.
During the five-week trial, the court heard Snibson was the mastermind behind the murders.
She manipulated both Lea-Caton and Flentjar into assisting her capture her victims by telling them different lies.
On January 28, Snibson phoned Mr Hosa and invited him to her house.
When he arrived he was attacked with a plank of wood, tied up and gagged.
His wife was called about half an hour later, and, when she arrived, was tackled, bound and gagged.
Snibson later suffocated Ms McKay by wrapping her face in tape and strangled Mr Hosa with electrical wire.
She and Lea-Caton then forced the couple’s bodies into 44-gallon drums and took them to the Tomerong State Forest where they were set alight.
