Gladstone man found guilty of gruesome prostitute murder
HIS family members broke down when the jury yesterday read out the verdict which would determine James William Glenn's fate - guilty.
The 20-year-old Gladstone man was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering prostitute Shuxia Yuan at a Gladstone motel.
Yuan died of blood loss after her throat was cut with a fishing knife on December 5, 2010.
Glenn was on trial this week in the Supreme Court in Rockhampton after pleading not guilty to one count of murder, but guilty to manslaughter.
In his closing statement yesterday, defence barrister John McInness said there was a reasonable possibility this was "an unthinking rage, a mindless attack".
Mr McInness argued that while Glenn's actions were deliberate, it did not mean his client had an intent to kill or cause grievous bodily harm to the 52-year-old woman.
But Crown prosecutor Michael Cowan said there was no greater intention to kill someone than slitting their throat.
"If he had not intended to kill her, then why did she have 23 knife wounds?" Mr Cowan put to the jury.
"He was an angry young man, and angry young men do strange things.
"Don't worry about why he did it. She died because he wanted to kill her."
Justice Duncan McMeekin described the murder as an "inexplicable crime" and a display of "savagery".
