Cold-blooded Killer Took More Than Lives

The Sunday Age

Sunday July 1, 2007

Mark Russell

HE IS only eight years old but will carry the scars of what cold-blooded killer James Barton did to him and his family for the rest of his life.

Barton deliberately set fire to a house in Albury, on the NSW-Victoria border, where the boy, who cannot be identified, and his younger sister were sleeping, after he had shot dead their father.

He had earlier drugged the children with methadone after spending the day with them, including watching a movie, while their father's body lay hidden behind two large armchairs and a pile of clothes in the lounge room.

The boy survived the fire, suffering burns to 10 per cent of his body, but his three-year-old sister perished.

Barton, a machinist from Wodonga, was jailed on Friday for a minimum of 35 years after being found guilty last year in the NSW Supreme Court of one count of murder, one count of manslaughter, and one count of attempted murder.

Barton claimed he killed the children's father, 41, shooting him in the back of the head, in September 2004 because the man had been blackmailing him for years and he was "sick of it".

After the killing, Barton spent the day entertaining the man's children.

He fixed the children their breakfast, visited some parks, went looking for yabbies, and had lunch and dinner from McDonald's. Then he drugged them with methadone, doused their father's body with petrol and let the dog out before setting the house on fire as the children slept.

The girl died in the blaze, but as neighbours rushed to the scene and heard screaming inside, Barton was forced to rescue the boy to avert suspicion.

Barton smashed a window to get the boy, who was crying: "Daddy, daddy."

The identity of the family has been suppressed.

The dead man's sister, who has parental custody of the little boy, told The Sunday Age that Barton deserved to be jailed for life. "No one has the right to take someone's life," she said.

The sister, aged in her 50s, and her husband moved to Adelaide after the murder to give the boy a fresh start.

The boy's mother has had no contact with him for years.

The sister said the boy remained deeply traumatised by what had happened to him and his family and required continuing psychiatric treatment.

She said that before she was forced recently to put him in foster care, the boy had asked her to show him a photo of his house when it was burnt.

"I showed him and he couldn't believe it, he just cried," she said.

"He went through some of the other photos that were salvaged and he had them all sitting on his little knees and he was crying his eyes out, asking, 'Why Aunty, why?'

"I said, 'I don't know, love, I can't give you those answers."'

The aunt said the boy kept photos of his dead father and sister in his bedroom.

"He has a lot of anger about the fact that he's not going to see his daddy or sister again.

"He knows exactly what happened to them and just keeps asking why?

"It has been a very tough road and this little boy is so damaged that he may never recover. All we can do is hope and pray for him."

© 2007 The Sunday Age

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