Major twist after fruit picker was charged with murder over pensioner's gory amputation death

By CAITLIN POWELL - NEWS REPORTER Published: 03:31, 22 May 2026 | Updated: 03:54, 22 May 2026 A banana picker has been found not guilty of murdering a grandfather who allegedly paid him $5,000 to amputate his leg and died of blood loss just hours later.  A jury heard that pensioner Kalman Tal, 66, asked several people to cut off his leg, or legs, before John Yalu, 41, agreed to perform the gory task for cash. While pleading guilty to manslaughter, Yalu had pleaded not guilty to murder.  On Friday, a jury found him not guilty of intending to kill or cause grievous bodily harm to the grandfather after less than four hours of deliberation.  The 41-year-old told jurors 'thank you' after their verdict at Cairns Supreme Court, The Courier Mail reports. Justice James Henry noted the jurors, who took less than four hours to deliberate after the four-day trial, had to 'try to put a round factual peg in the square hole of the law'. During the trial, several witnesses told the court that Mr Tal - who claimed to be suffering leg pain - had offered them between $3,000 and $5,000 to cut off his leg from December 2021 to January 2022. Mr Tal died after Yalu allegedly used a battery-powered circular saw to cut off his left foot in Fitzgerald Park in the early hours of February 19, 2022. Queensland grandfather Kalman Tal (right) had been living in Innisfail with his daughter (left), son-in-law and their children before his amputation death on February 19, 2022 The 66-year-old died after the alleged impromptu surgery with the battery-powered saw at Innisfail's riverfront Fitzgerald Park in the early hours of February 19, 2022 John Yalu (pictured) was found not guilty of murder by a jury on Friday Mr Tal bled to death after collapsing into a gutter beside a fish and chip shop, Innisfail Seafood.  His body was discovered by two brothers out walking at 3.48am. Yalu, who earned $800-a-week picking bananas on farms around Innisfail, was arrested the same day and taken into custody. Following Yalu's arrest and murder charge, Vanuatu's High Commissioner to Australia Samson Vilvil Fare held an emergency meeting in Innisfail. They gathered about 300 migrant fruit pickers and called for calm among the distraught workers. Less than an hour into the jury's deliberation, one juror asked the judge about how to use 'common sense' when making their judgement. 'If we apply the law to our case, I must find (him) guilty of murder, but when I apply my common sense, it tells me it is incorrect and very unjust,' they said. Justice Henry made reference to higher court judgements in his response and returned to court with their decision within half an hour of receiving his comments. Mr Tal was discovered lying in the gutter outside this fish and chip shop on the Innisfail riverfront by two men out walking around 3.48am on February 19, 2022 Yalu (pictured) had been working cutting bananas in the Innisfail area for several years before police allege he agreed to sever Mr Tal's leg with a circular saw A retiree, Mr Tal had been living on the town's outskirts for about two years in a four-bedroom house with his daughter, son-in-law and their children. In the trial, the jury heard that the pensioner had previously approached three men sitting on a park bench and asked if they wanted to make $5,000 in December, 2021.  Scott Torrens told the jury Mr Tal sat beside him and said: 'My leg is killing me, I'm having trouble walking, standing and the doctors won't do anything about it. 'I want you to cut my leg off.' He contacted Mr Torrens several times after their initial meeting, but after thinking about it, he decided against it and blocked Mr Tal's number, the jury was told. Ahne Kaihe told the jury a white man had approached farm workers in an Innisfail street in January 2022, asking them if they'd cut off his leg for cash. The jury was told Mr Tal paid Yalu $5,000 to remove his lower leg. A postmortem could not determine definitively if or why he was experiencing leg pain, but found that he suffered from underlying heart disease that may have accelerated his death. Mr Tal's heart was also enlarged and one of his arteries had 'significant' narrowing, a jury was told. Jurors were shown photos of the circular saw allegedly used in the amputation. Detective Constable Deborah Brans told the jury she discovered the severed foot wrapped in Woolworths shopping bags in Mr Tal's car boot. She said the body part was found beside a bag containing three U-shaped metal stakes, a hammer, a left shoe, a circular saw with large teeth, three knives, a hacksaw, a torch and a roll of silver duct tape. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. 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