The jury in a District Court trial of five people accused of a million-dollar gold theft in WA’s Goldfields has returned a verdict of not guilty on all counts.

After hearing evidence from eight witnesses, the four-week trial ended today with the group’s acquittal after barely two hours of deliberations.

The jury returned not guilty verdicts on all 10 charges related to the alleged theft of 8,465 tonnes of gold-bearing ore from the Greenfields Mill near Coolgardie four years ago.

The gold the ore produced, and which was sold to the Perth Mint, was worth $1.17 million based on metal prices at the time. 

Among the accused was the former general manager of gold miner FMR Investments, 42-year-old Patrick Rhyan Keogh, who did not speak to reporters as he walked out of the Kalgoorlie courthouse. 

Mr Keogh testified that FMR Investments founder Peter Bartlett gave him permission to profit off a waste stockpile sometime in late 2012 or early 2013, and that he “didn’t have to ask him twice”, before it was treated at Greenfields Mill between December 2018 and January 2019.  

Mr Keogh and former Greenfields Mill manager Christopher Robert Burns, 76, had both pleaded not guilty to stealing as a servant and other charges relating to the proceeds of an offence.

Simon Leslie Gash, 57, and his business partner, Russell Wilson Holden, 51, had pleaded not guilty to money laundering and fraud charges over their alleged involvement via private company Aqua Alluvial Pty Ltd.

Former mill superintendent Morgan Whitney Dombroski, 33, had also pleaded not guilty to possessing $5,050 suspected of being unlawfully obtained, which the prosecution alleged was leftover from a $90,000 cash payment she received from Mr Burns.

More to come.