You are here: Jobs > News & Advice > Former Marine Walter Ciaran Marsh Accused Of Killing Boss Over Bad References

Former Marine Walter Ciaran Marsh Accused Of Killing Boss Over Bad References

By David Schepp
Posted Sep 14th 2011 @ 1:01PM
Updated Sep 15th 2011 @ 4:26PM
Filed under: Employment News & Trends

killing boss bad references A former U.S. Marine is standing trial in Australia on charges of murdering his boss by stabbing her and slitting her throat in retaliation for bad employment references.

Hiring Now

Search All Job Listings

New York Jobs

Los Angeles Jobs

Chicago Jobs

Philadelphia Jobs

In the April revenge killing of Michelle Beets (pictured at left), Walter Ciaran Marsh used a stabbing technique that he learned as a Marine, jurors assigned to the trial were told during the first day of the hearing Wednesday, according to The Daily Telegraph newspaper. At the time, Beets was a hospital emergency manager at Royal North Shore Hospital near Sydney.

Marsh, a U.S. citizen who worked at the hospital as a nurse, was seeking permanent residency in Australia, but found himself "in a real dilemma" when Beets and another colleague told him that his contract wasn't going to be renewed, the newspaper reports.

Marsh made applications to 19 jobs at other Sydney hospitals before murdering Beets, a prosecutor told the Supreme Court, but received either rejection letters or no response.

Marsh tracked Beets for a week prior to killing her at her home, where she was found slain on her veranda, prosecutor Mark Tedeschi told jurors. Beets was stabbed eight times in the upper chest and her neck was "severely cut," according to the Telegraph.

"The accused formed the view that the reason he was being consistently rejected was because ... Michelle Beets was giving him bad references -- and to some degree this was true," Tedeschi told the court.

Opening statements in the case are to continue Thursday.

Next: Miami Police Chief Fired For Disobeying Orders

Don't Miss: Top 10 Companies Hiring Now

Stories from DailyFinance

Tags: australia, court, justice, law, michelle beets, murder, stab, sydney, trial, Walter Ciaran Marsh

David Schepp

David Schepp has spent more than a dozen years covering business news for the electronic and print media, including Dow Jones Newswires, BBC News, Gannett Co., and most recently at AOL's DailyFinance. Nearly 10 years ago, he started writing a weekly People@Work column, looking in depth at issues facing workers in today's workplace. Follow David on Twitter. Email David at david.schepp@huffingtonpost.com. Add David to your Google+ circles.

more...

Add a Comment

Sign in »

431 Comments

Filter by:

martin33t

Hey, to all of you that think that he should have been given a second choice:

Let's say I run a small doctor's office. What if i gave this guy a second choice. Would you be willing to bring your children and let this nurse take their temperature or give them shots? If he was a bad nurse and the former boss knows it, then it is her moral obligation to say so. Remember he is a nurse and we have to be careful of who we are trusting with public health and well being.

September 15 2011 at 6:21 AM Report abuse Permalink +1 rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to martin33t's comment

vryspld122

Exactly.

September 17 2011 at 10:51 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

mrfantastic52792

first off i dont think he should be referred to as a "whackjob". mentally unstable would be the proper term. refusing this man the right to pursue his profession of choice just because she assumes he is such a terrible person, is wrong. if she was professional at all she could have at least made one lousy phone call to try and seek help for him, especially considering the fact that she probably made a thousand damn calls trying to prevent him from getting a job. now, if he had undergone extensive counseling and so on and so forth, and failed to show any signs of progress, then of course i would completely agree with the woman.

September 15 2011 at 3:44 AM Report abuse Permalink -1 rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to mrfantastic52792's comment

vryspld122

I call a spade by its name. You say mentally unstable, fine...we can be all PC about a guy that slaughtered a former employer..if there is ANYTHING "PC" about it. As far as "refusing him" to pursue his career of choice, she did not have that power. He did. He listed her as a reference/prior employer. He was denied. He still was free to pursue. It is not her job to get him mental help. Thats HIS responsibility. Remember that word...RESPONSIBILITY? Everyone is a victim, its never their own fault anymore, whaa whaa. If you screw up, you need to answer for it. Do we know WHY this woman felt the moral/ethical/legal obligation to interfere with him working in the med field? I'd bet dollars to donut she felt she had VERY good reason(s) to think he was not fit to be a nurse. Evidently, she was right. How many lives may she have saved? Many. Thank goodness for ppl who are still willing to stand up and speak out in this world! Its just a tragedy that she had to die b/c he was "unstable" and felt he deserved to go around "unstable" and out of control.

September 17 2011 at 10:50 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

vryspld122

This man was supposed to be a NURSE. Obviously unbalanced and he was to be trusted with the care of the lives of others in a hospital? I think not. She had a moral,legal and ethical obligation to relay any issues that could put patients care in harms way. If that meant warning 19 potential employers of this bad seed, so be it. His actions proved her concerns about his employability were well warranted. As a member of the medical profession, I too would have deemed it necessary to try and block someone like this whackjob from working in a hospital! Does it say WHY she kept giving him bad references? Isnt it OBVIOUS he didnt need to be around ANYONE? The man was/is a loose cannon and should be locked up for life. He has no regard for the human life he was sworn to uphold and protect. "First, do not harm"...........

September 15 2011 at 3:18 AM Report abuse Permalink +2 rate up rate down Reply

mrfantastic52792

tolleygw, i agree 110%. i mean, im not saying the man is a saint and didnt do **** wrong, because thats just not the case. but damn, the extent that she took things to is simply absurd. it was completely ridiculous and unecessary for the bitch to take the the time and effort to give a bad reference to each and every ******* one of the NINETEEN places the man applied at. i dont give a damn how terrible of a worker you are, you have the right to work and make a living. and for her to annihilate the mans chances of getting any one of those NINETEEN jobs, its just plain wrong. but honestly, if you put yourself in his shoes, and took everything that he was going through into consideration, what would you have done? don't get me wrong, for him to stab her 8 times and damn near cut her melon off was very unjust, but if you ask me she brought it upon herself. it was her determination to **** this man out of a job, that truly ****** her in the long run. unfortunately just like most other people, she had to learn her lesson the hard way.

September 15 2011 at 3:09 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to mrfantastic52792's comment

slloyd414

He "believed" that was the reason. It was not proven that was the reason. Why would he even bother to use her as a reference if he knew she was going to prevent him from getting another job? And maybe she had good reason to give a bad reference! I'm sick and tired of people expecting everyone else to look the other way and to not accept responsibility for their actions! That is why we have so much crime now. I hope he gets what he deserves and never sets foot outside of a prison again. It's bad enough he was already a deadbeat dad (which is why he was too much of a coward to return to the states...according to the article), and then he chooses to murder someone? From the sounds of the "practice" he undertook to kill her, it was very premeditated, and he may have merely used the "bad reference excuse" in an attempt to cover up a real motive. I believe that the people who defend him are as sick and demented as he is.

September 15 2011 at 7:25 AM Report abuse Permalink +2 rate up rate down Reply

Mr. Bachman

If I find out my previous boss has been giving me bad references, after spending 6 months and endless thousands of hours looking for work, I will do the same.

I say not guilty. Justifiable death..

September 15 2011 at 1:56 AM Report abuse Permalink -3 rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Mr. Bachman's comment

slloyd414

So when is your next psychiatric appointment? Perhaps the police would be interested in seeing your response.

September 15 2011 at 7:25 AM Report abuse Permalink +1 rate up rate down Reply

Katie Reynolds

She did what her conscience and the statue requires. If she would gave the guy thumbs up, and one of your mothers were hired, and, their throats were cut due to her favorable recommendation, you would cry about her bad judgment.

The guy was so sick he practiced slitting the throats of his own family?? Anyone defending them needs serious mental help.

That said, all of you screaming she got what she deserves, are more than likely cowards living in your mom's basement.

September 15 2011 at 1:54 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

wellpullitoff

Desperate times - people go abroad to kill for employment, because there are no jobs here.

September 15 2011 at 1:53 AM Report abuse Permalink +1 rate up rate down Reply

tolleygw

THE BITCH DESERVED IT ,,,SHE COULD HAVE BEEN PROFESSIONAL AND WALK AWAY ,,INSTEAD SHE SET OUT TO DESTROY THIS PERSONS ABILITY TO MAKE A LIVING,,,I HAVE LIVED THIS ,,,I JUST HAD A FINE WHISKEY AND A GREAT CIGAR,,,ROT IN HELL BITCH!!!!!!

September 15 2011 at 1:15 AM Report abuse Permalink -7 rate up rate down Reply