A father-of-two who stabbed Richard “Mikey” Mills in a jealous rage over an affair with his long-term partner has been jailed for 18 years.
Ricky Duke Doolan, 33, appeared in the NSW Supreme Court in Tamworth this week where he was sentenced for the senseless murder of Mr Mills in September 2022.
Doolan pleaded guilty to murdering Mr Mills at a wake in the northern New South Wales border town of Boggabilla in front of grieving family and loved ones.
Mikey Mills is the brother of Getaway and Channel 9 presenter Matty Mills.
Mr Mills previously told Daily Mail Australia that his brother’s death left him in a state of despair and he hit “rock bottom” before healing through mental and physical training.
“Behind the scenes, I was going through a lot of mental health issues. The cameras didn’t capture that,” he explained.
Tragedy struck in mid-2021 when Mikey Mills began an affair with Doolan’s long-term partner.
“He was initially angry with his partner but expressed his forgiveness,” Judge Richard Button said in his sentencing remarks on Friday.
Mr Mills was fatally stabbed in the New South Wales border town of Boggabilla in September 2022.
“The deceased and his partner also reconciled,” the judge said.
However, Doolan also made Facebook posts about Mr Mills, “suggesting he wished to harm him”, the court was told.
On 2 September 2022, Mr Mills and his partner travelled from Tamworth to Goondiwindi in southern Queensland to attend a funeral.
Doolan and his partner were also there.
Later that day, Mr Mills attended a wake in Boggabilla, about 10 minutes up the road but just over the border in New South Wales.
Doolan’s partner had tried to avoid any confrontation by checking whether Mr Mills was present at the wake before arriving with Doolan.
However, she was mistaken in believing he was not present, the court was told.
When Doolan arrived, Mr. Mills was in the backyard smoking a cigarette and a heated altercation ensued.
“I only want to attack you once,” Doolan told Mr Mills before pushing him, the court was told.
In his sentencing remarks, Judge Button said Mr Mills had not retaliated and had stepped back.
But within seconds, Doolan unleashed a murderous spree, stabbing Mr Mills 14 times.
As Mr Mills lay helpless on the ground, Doolan continued the attack.
“The murderous attack lasted a short time,” Judge Button said.
‘However, there were fourteen wounds; some of them deep and very severe; and there was a phase of the attack when the attacker was standing over the deceased, who was helpless on the ground trying to move, no doubt in a fruitless effort to survive.’
Doolan fled the scene and when paramedics arrived, Mr Mills had no pulse and was later pronounced dead, adding to the grief of other mourners who had buried a loved one earlier that day.
Judge Button described the attack as “spontaneous, unplanned, simplistic in its brutality” and occurring after Doolan lost control.
But he discovered that Doolan undoubtedly intended to kill.
Judge Button said Doolan had no justification for inflicting a “terrifying and excruciatingly painful” death on Mr Mills during an “armed attack” on a retreating victim.
“The offender was unable or unwilling to accept that all adults in this country are completely free to engage in romantic and intimate relationships with other adults as they see fit, without being threatened with violence, or actual violence, let alone stabbed to death as a consequence of their choices,” she said.
The court heard Doolan made “vicious” and “vulgar” comments as he fled.
However, Judge Button also noted that he had since expressed remorse in a written apology to the court.
The court said Doolan hid his head in his hands as Mills’ family and loved ones made emotional statements about the impact of the victims’ deaths during sentencing proceedings.
At the time he killed Mr Mills, Doolan was serving an intensive community corrections order after being convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm after punching and kicking his partner, who suffered a broken nose and was left unconscious.
Doolan was sentenced to 18 years and nine months in prison, with Judge Button setting a non-parole period of 14 years.
He will be eligible for release for the first time in September 2036.
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