Leg amputation ‘murder’: Police say Innisfail man found dead had diabetes and paid $5,000 to accused

A man who died after paying a fruit picker to hack off his leg with a circular saw wanted the brutal amateur surgery because he was suffering with crippling diabetes, police will allege in court. 

Locals in Innisfail, a town of 10,000 people south of Cairns in North Queensland, woke on Saturday morning to find the 66-year-old man dead outside a fish and chip shop.  

Police have charged banana-picker John Yalu, 36, with the unnamed man’s alleged murder – who police believe injected himself with a sedative beforehand – and are investigating whether he was offered $5,000 to saw off the man’s leg. 

Yalu arrived in Australia from Vanuatu last year and regularly sends money from his fruit picking job home to his young family. 

Detective Acting Inspector Gary Hunter, who is heading the…