A coroner has formally found Campbell Town storeman Shane Barker was shot dead by his former father-in-law in 2009, with help from his former mother-in-law.
Coroner Olivia McTaggart found Barker, 36, died from a gunshot wound to the chest on August 2, 2009.
She found Cedric Jordan intentionally killed him and Noelene Jordan assisted “at all material times”.
According to the coronial findings published this week, the couple went to Barker’s home with a .22 firearm fitted with a silencer.
Just before 7pm, as Barker arrived home from visiting his parents, Cedric Jordan shot him four times.
Barker crawled inside and locked the door but died in the hallway. He was found the next day when he did not arrive for work.
McTaggart said the Jordans believed Barker had sexually assaulted their daughter, his former wife.
They also believed he was abusing his own daughter, who was five.
She said the couple formed a joint plan to kill him.
McTaggart said the truth of the allegations “cannot be determined”. Complaints to police and child protection did not proceed.
Barker denied the allegations and told police they had been invented to stop him seeing his daughter.
His mother said he was “devastated” by what she described as false allegations.
At sentencing in 2023, Justice Robert Pearce said his impression was that the abuse claims were “improbable”.
He said courts had a duty to make clear that “citizens may not take the law into their own hands”.
After a lengthy police investigation, the Jordans were charged with murder in 2020.
A jury found them guilty in June 2023 after a 10-week Supreme Court trial.
Each was jailed for 22 years with a non-parole period of 12 years. The Court of Criminal Appeal dismissed their appeals on September 23, 2025.
McTaggart said the outcome of the criminal case meant an inquest was not required.
McTaggart said the outcome of the criminal case meant an inquest was not required and she did not consider one desirable. She made no recommendations.
