Coroner's Finding: Williams, Brett

46y · Male·Stab wounds of the chest and abdomen

Brett Edward Williams, a 46-year-old man with disabilities, died from multiple stab wounds inflicted by Stuart Barry Russell on 17 December 2011. Russell, who had recently moved onto Williams' property with others, armed himself with a knife and fatally stabbed Williams during a violent confrontation at Williams' home. Both men were intoxicated at the time. Williams had consumed homebrew beer and cannabis; toxicology showed blood alcohol of 0.173 g/100ml. After the stabbing, Russell attempted to burn the body and house to destroy evidence. Russell was convicted of murder and sentenced to 22 years imprisonment. This death resulted from criminal violence rather than medical misadventure, and no clinical interventions could have prevented it.