AN autistic teenager, killed in a brutal axe attack, screamed in agony as his helpless stepfather pleaded with the killers to let him go, a court heard yesterday.
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A witness statement tendered to Ballarat Magistrates Court revealed a teenage girl, who saw most of the attack at the Scarsdale farmhouse on January 5 this year, also begged Timothy O’Brien’s killers to stop.
“Joel (Henderson) had one hand around Timmy’s neck choking him and was punching him with the other hand,” her statement says.
“Timmy was screaming really, really loud ... Darren (Wilson) was punching him too at this stage.”
In her statement, the woman says she repeatedly screamed for the accused killers to stop, while Timothy’s stepfather, Peter Williams, did the same.
“Get the f*** off him now, he’s only a little boy,” she screamed.
Timothy, 14, died from severe trauma to the head after allegedly being struck up to 20 times with an axe. Armed with a baseball bat, Timothy had gone to the aid of his stepfather who had been lured to the property to be bashed, the court was told.
Darren Wilson, 33, Joel Henderson, 40, and Lisa Trezise, 29, all of Ballarat, are charged with the murder of Timothy.
The same witness told the court Trezise had driven her and her friend to Peter Williams’ house in the early hours of January 5 before her friend – who cannot be named for legal reasons – convinced Mr Williams to follow them home because they had seen prowlers.
Wilson and the teenage girl had allegedly devised the plan knowing that Wilson would be waiting for Mr Williams and would “give him a flogging”.
The witness said Mr Williams and the other teenage girl had been friends until Mr Williams is alleged to have sexually assaulted the girl.
Wilson, wearing a Betty Boop pillowcase over his head, allegedly jumped from a room when Mr Williams arrived at the house and started punching him in the head.
The witness said she didn’t see Henderson strike Timothy with the axe, but said a wound to Timothy’s lifeless skull appeared to have come from the axe which she saw Henderson holding.
Peter Williams’ police statement revealed his heartache after the death. “Timmy is 14 years old and I love him and we did a lot of things together,” it says.
