WA man guilty of partner's murder

A Perth jury has found Robert Jeffrey Anderson guilty of murdering his de facto wife and then lying to police that she had taken her own life.

A Perth man who masked the fatal shooting of his de facto wife as a suicide has been found guilty of her murder.

Robert Jeffrey Anderson shot Phaea Leanne Lightfoot, 51, in the bedroom of their Wanneroo home during an argument about sex on August 29, 2012.

Anderson then placed the gun beside Ms Lightfoot's body and told the triple-zero operator and police that Ms Lightfoot killed herself.

During his West Australian Supreme Court trial, Anderson claimed he intended to fire a warning shot through the bedroom door after Ms Lightfoot threw a ceramic cat at him.

He also denied intentionally placing the gun beside the body to make it look like a suicide and rehearsing his story before calling for an ambulance.

Anderson will appear in court again for sentencing submissions on January 23.


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