Paul Cohrs: Ex-Wentworth Shire councillor jailed for 30 years for shotgun murder of mum

Former Wentworth deputy mayor Paul Cohrs has been jailed for three decades over the shotgun murder of his elderly mother almost six years ago.

Paul Anthony Cohrs, 64, returned before the Victorian Supreme Court on Wednesday for sentencing after a jury rejected a mental impairment defence and found him guilty.

The court was told Cohrs continued to believe he was justified in his actions and blamed his brother Raymond.

After the offending Cohrs was diagnosed with a delusional disorder, expressing the belief he’d been persecuted by his mother and brother who wanted to force him out of the family business and take his money.

Handing down her sentence, Justice Lesley Taylor said Cohrs was locked in a years-long dispute with Raymond over the family’s successful businesses, with their mother, Bette Schulz-Cohrs, taking his brother’s side.

On October 30, 2018, Cohrs drove from his home in Victoria to Lake Victoria Station, in NSW, where he met Raymond and a real estate agent, Michael Fernandez, who was evaluating the property for sale.

Here he shot dead his brother with a 12-gauge shotgun and handcuffed Mr Fernandez inside a shed.

“Don’t look, it will give you nightmares for 20 years,” Cohrs told the agent.

He left about 10.15am, driving the 110km to Ms Schultz-Cohrs’ home in Red Cliffs, Victoria, where Cohrs shot her in the chest after his four-year-old grandson was moved to a bathroom.

He returned to Lake Victoria Station, calling family members and police on the way, and freed Mr Fernandez.

Police found him at 3.30pm in scrubland with Cohrs immediately turning the gun on himself.

“I cannot believe I’m not dead,” he said as they performed first aid.

“I’ve just killed my mother and brother, they were two of the most evilest people in the world.”

Justice Taylor said she was not to sentence Cohrs for the killing of Raymond, as it occurred in another jurisdiction, but the murder of Ms Schultz-Cohrs “cannot be understood” without that context.

“The murder of you mother was planned, as it was linked to the plan to kill your brother,” she said.

“She had been in specific fear of you shooting her for some time … You left a four-year-old child to find the lifeless bloodstained body of his grandmother on the floor.”

Justice Taylor said while the delusional disorder contributed to Cohrs’ justification of the “abhorrent” crime, his primary motivation was anger and embitterment.

The court was told Raymond and their mother had taken over the family’s business after Cohrs’ father died by suicide in 1984.

Cohrs worked for the business for a time, but his relationship with his mother and brother became strained by about 2012 over differing opinions.

Their escalating feud spilt into the courtroom in 2016 and was unresolved at the time of the murder.

The court was told Cohrs felt betrayed by his brother and mother, believing they were trying to cheat him out of the business and had been responsible for his father’s death.

The two deaths had split the family, Justice Taylor said, with some continuing to support Cohrs and others no longer wanting contact.

He showed no emotion as Justice Taylor said Cohrs would be eligible for parole after 23 years of his sentence.

But as Cohrs was led from the courtroom, he looked at family members and raised his eyebrows as a granddaughter mouthed “love you”.