Guy Haymes was killed in February of 2024. Photo: NSW Police
Two years ago, Sydney surfer Guy Haymes was brutally killed over $50. Now, the man responsible for the death has been sentenced after pleading guilty to manslaughter.
Haymes, 59, affectionately nicknamed “Creature,” was a beloved figure in the Northern Beaches surfing community. He was also a former competitor, who once surfed in the Rip Curl Shield in the 1980s. “Guy was fun-loving, and sociable, and he got along with everyone. He was very warm, and welcomed people into the community with open arms,” his brother, Mark Haymes, told ABC.
According to court documents, in February of 2024, Jayson Brett Dal Molin, 42, went to a friend’s apartment to buy marijuana, which he smoked before falling asleep. When he woke up, he accused Haymes and two other men of stealing $50 from him, then proceeded to lock the apartment door and force Haymes to take off his clothes to prove he did not have the money hidden on his person. He then held Haymes upside down by his ankles and repeatedly hit him on the head, not stopping until one of the other men gave him $50 of their own. Afterwards, one of them called paramedics, who found Haymes in the apartment with critical head injuries. He was taken to Royal North Shore Hospital, where he died two weeks later.
In November of 2025, Dal Molin pleaded guilty to manslaughter in exchange for several other charges, including murder, being withdrawn. This week, a court handed down his sentence.
“I appreciate that no sentence I can impose will ever bring the victim back … nor can it be regarded as in some way a measure of the life of the victim,” said Judge Jennie Girdham on Wednesday. She added that, while the court had taken Dal Molin’s experience of childhood violence and his remorse into account, that “Remorse is a step towards atonement, but there is little he can do to ameliorate the harm of the offence.”
In the end, Dal Molin was sentenced to seven years and six months in prison, which was backdated to June 2024. He will be eligible for parole in March 2029.
