Queen Street Mall gunman Lee Matthew Hillier jailed for stabbing ex-soldier to death

Family members of a former soldier stabbed to death by his friend have broken down in court, revealing how their “father, best friend and hero” had been ripped from their lives.

A packed gallery filled Brisbane Supreme Court on Friday as Lee Matthew Hillier – who achieved infamy during an armed standoff with police at a busy Brisbane mall – learned his fate for the shock killing of Nathan Frazer in July 2018.

Hillier, dressed in a black suit with a large “F--k the police” tattoo etched across the left side of his head, was silent throughout proceedings after pleading guilty to manslaughter.

He also pleaded guilty to stealing a car’s number plate.

The court was told Hillier, 43, and Mr Frazer had been friends for a few months and at times used drugs together.

But there was little reason as to why the pair began fighting in Murrumba Downs, north of Brisbane, in the early hours of July 12, 2018.

Crown prosecutor Mark Green said two women who were in the car with them said they saw a “flurry of movement” in about five seconds.

He said Mr Frazer had become argumentative and was not making any sense but it was accepted he started the assault.

Mr Frazer was stabbed in the chest twice during the altercation with a knife Hillier grabbed in response.

Despite paramedics’ attempts to revive him, Mr Frazer died from his injuries.

Mr Green said the crown could not contest the account Hillier gave to police and he was thus being sentenced for manslaughter on the basis he used “excessive force” against Mr Frazer.

“It indicates a willingness to resort on a small amount of provocation … to the use of a weapon in circumstances where it was entirely unwarranted,” he said.

Days after the event, Hillier was arrested in a motel room in Carseldine after barricading himself from police while armed with a replica pistol.

He was earlier seen “distraught and paranoid”, claiming he was a “monster” and Mr Frazer had “disrespected” and “challenged” him.

“He (Hillier) said he did not mean to kill the victim,” Mr Green said.

Mr Frazer’s mother revealed the pain and emptiness in her life had increased every day since her son’s death.

She paid tribute to how her son “served with pride” in peace-monitoring missions with the defence forces.

“Nathan walked out of my gate one afternoon and the next time I saw him he was lying still and cold inside his coffin,” she said.

“Special occasions such as birthdays, mother’s and father’s days and Christmas are all dreaded now.

“Even Anzac Day is tainted now, as I remember what a proud member of the Australian Defence Force he was.”

Brooke, Mr Frazer’s daughter, broke down as she told the court how she became “filled with anger” after her father’s death.

“Everything is tainted because I don’t get to share it with him,” she said.

“I won’t get to show him my wedding dress … and I never got to tell him I’m pregnant.”

Mr Frazer’s younger brother said his older sibling didn’t deserve to die in such a “callous” way, but remained resolute the family would not hold themselves to be “victims”.

“Nathan was a generous, courageous, outgoing and gentle man … I saw that in the way he treated his three children,” he said.

“The spirit of our family and of Nathan gives us all hope that from this day, we can live our best lives.”

He remembered how Nathan was “well liked and respected” by his fellow Diggers, and their happy memories working together in the horsing industry.

The court was told Hillier had a criminal history characterised by a “serious and ongoing drug addiction”.

In 2014 he brought Brisbane City to a standstill after producing a handgun in the busy Queen Street Mall complex.

Police had to cordon off the area during the siege, where Hillier at times pointed the unloaded firearm at officers.

Hillier was jailed for 10 years for the manslaughter, with more than three years declared as time served.

A suspended sentence he was serving at the time was also activated.

Hillier’s defence barrister said his client’s plea was a reflection of genuine remorse, saying Hillier had written a letter of apology to Mr Frazer’s family in October 2018.

His childhood was marked by “trauma, abuse and neglect” and he began using drugs at age nine to “disconnect”.