Cameron Pearson jailed for life for murdering prominent Perth lawyer
Alice McShera, a well-known Perth lawyer, specializes in family law and restraining orders.
He was the subject of similar issues on Tuesday when his on-again, off-again partner Cameron Pearson was jailed for life for McShera’s brutal murder in a Crown Towers hotel room in 2023.
McShera, 34, claimed that while she was getting ready to go out for the night on October 30, 2023, the couple got into an argument after Pearson said he was leaving her.
“I just lost it,” he admitted, later telling police: “We had an argument… I hit him on the head.”
The court heard on Tuesday that Pearson hit McShera five to nine times in the face and the back of his head with a champagne bottle, then covered his body with towels and then “rested in the room”.
The next morning, she used a broken champagne glass to harm herself, before being found in the bathroom by hotel staff after McShera’s medical check-up.
McShera’s father called the hotel and asked staff to check on him, but when they knocked on the hotel door, Pearson refused to let them in, the court heard.
They then returned with a security pass to gain entry and equipment to cut the chain on the door.
Drugs and volatility
The court heard on Tuesday that Pearson, a 43-year-old father of one, met McShera in late 2022 when she was helping him with family court matters.
A month later, they were in a relationship marred by instability and drug use on both sides, the court heard.
Pearson had a criminal history of drug use, and McShera was biased about “occasionally” taking meth with him. He had methamphetamine and alcohol in his system the night he died.
He was a solicitor at Murray Chambers, a boutique law firm in Perth, where he specialized in child support, family law and restraining orders.
He was a boilermaker and had worked in the defense forces and in fly-in and fly-out jobs, but was unemployed at the time of their relationship.
Pearson told therapists that he planned to marry McShera, but McShera had already told him that he did not love her.
Their relationship went through phases of breaking up and getting back together numerous times, but on the night of his death, it was announced that they had gone through a “phase of reconciliation”.
The court was told Pearson did not kill McShera with any premeditation or planning.
“I drank a few vodkas, he was dancing around, he said he could let me go, so I lost it and hit him over the head with the bottle,” he told police.
“I was angry with him.”
Pearson told police he was “not in his right mind regarding the sleep deprivation, meth use and alcohol use” but later “deeply regretted” his actions and wrote a letter to McShera’s family expressing deep remorse and full responsibility.
Victim impact statements submitted to the court said McShera was kind, loving and generous and was passionate about the law, particularly in relation to preventing violence against women and children.
Much of Perth’s legal community, including District Court Judge Linda Black, was in court to witness Peason’s sentencing on Tuesday.
