A NEIGHBOUR heard a loud noise like a "burst of anger" coming from the flat of an elderly man who was beaten to death several days before his body was found, a court was told yesterday. The naked body of 76-year-old Brian Alexander Pearce was discovered on the floor of his Albert St home where he lived alone on January 18, 2007. Police broke down the door of the flat after Neil Allan Baker attended the Ballarat police station with his solicitor Mike Wardell and provided them with a prepared statement. Baker, 52, is on trial in the Supreme Court in Ballarat charged with murder. The court heard yesterday that in the statement Baker said he wished to report the death of Mr Pearce.Baker said Mr Pearce indecently assaulted him on January 8 and in response he struck him several times. "Following the incident Mr Pearce was still alive and able to talk and so I (Baker) left the address," the statement said.The statement also said Baker was following the advice of his solicitor by not answering questions about Mr Pearce's death. A former neighbour of Mr Pearce, Aranava Banerjee, said he had last seen the elderly man who he called "Grandad" about two weeks before making a statement to police on January 18.Mr Banerjee said a couple of days after seeing Mr Pearce he had been watching television when he suddenly heard a loud noise coming from the unit. "It was like a person, just a burst of anger," Mr Banerjee said. "It was a male voice."The trial continues today.