PROSECUTORS on Friday closed their case against accused Ballarat axe murderer Darren Wilson, telling a Supreme Court jury “powerful evidence” showed Wilson was a violent man, guilty of a “depraved” murder.
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Senior Crown prosecutor Andrew Tinney SC said it was with “a lack of humanity” that the “helpless and autistic” Timothy O’Brien, 14, was killed at Scarsdale last year, with the teenager’s death “a natural by-product of the violence of the man in the dock”.
“Well, members of the jury, it’s scarcely believable that a fully grown adult male can see fit to pick up an axe, lift it up in the air, and slam the blade of the axe down forcefully on the head of a helpless, unconscious, 14-year-old autistic child,” Mr Tinney said in his closing address.
“(It) defies belief that having done that and presumably having felt what it felt like, as the axe smashed into the skull of that child, having done that once, that a man could then see fit to repeat that action, time and time again.
“... In the face of the powerful evidence led by the prosecution in this case, you will believe that a man could do precisely that, and you will have no doubt who the man was who did that. It’s the man in the dock.”
Mr Tinney began his closing at the end of the fifth week of Wilson’s trial, with the defence earlier on Friday indicating it would not call any witnesses.
Wilson is standing trial in the Supreme Court having pleaded not guilty to one charge of murder and four counts of inciting others to murder.
Timothy’s body was found at a Scarsdale house on the morning of January 5 last year.
The jury has heard Wilson and a 16-year-old girl living at the house devised a plan to lure Timothy’s stepfather, Peter Williams, to the house and bash him.
Mr Williams and Wilson are cousins and the jury has heard their relationship had soured in the weeks leading up to Timothy’s death.
Mr Williams was jumped by Wilson when he arrived at the Scarsdale house in the early hours of January 5.
Timothy used a baseball bat to defend his stepfather before he was allegedly chased out of the house by another man who allegedly used the blunt side of an axe to hit Timothy repeatedly in the head.
Wilson is accused of then grabbing the axe, turning it to its bladed side, and continuing to strike Timothy.
Wilson is also charged with four counts of inciting others to murder witnesses.
Two former prisoners who were on remand with Wilson last year have told the jury Wilson allegedly asked the them to murder key witnesses.
The trial before Justice Betty King continues.
