A SUPREME court jury in Newcastle has found Mark Daniel Kirkman, 31, of Wee Waa, guilty of the murder of Leroy Cochrane.
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The jury deliberated for six hours before delivering the verdict on Tuesday.
The body of 21-year-old Cochrane, who is of Aboriginal descent, was found on an isolated stock route on the outskirts of Wee Waa on December 9, 2000.
He had been stabbed in the back and bludgeoned to death with two golf clubs.
Kirkman maintained his innocenceof any part in the murder of Cochrane throughout the trial although he had admitted that he lured Cochran to the stock route on the night but claimed he intended to fight him, not kill him.
Kirkman, who ran the Olympia Cafe in Wee Waa with his wife, had a confrontation with Mr Cochrane outside the cafe a few weeks prior to the murder.
When Kirkman was arrested for the murder there were outbreaks of racial violence in Wee Waa and there were fears that the decision might prompt further violence.
However, acting sergeant at the Wee Waa police station Ken Anderson said that there had not yet been any indication of this.
Kirkman will be sentenced in Sydney on May 10.
