A man accused of three South Australian cold-case murders targeted vulnerable people and killed each of them violently and deliberately while searching for valuables to fund his drug habit, a judge has heard.
Steven Leslie Hainsworth, 49, faced the SA Supreme Court in Adelaide on Tuesday to stand trial for the murders of Phyllis Harrison, 71, at Elizabeth South in 1998, Beverley Hanley, 64, at Elizabeth North in 2010 and Stephen Newton, 55, at Mt Gambier in 2011.
Hainsworth, 49, of Mildura in Victoria, has pleaded not guilty to the three murders. He is facing a judge-alone trial before Justice Adam Kimber, which is expected to run for up to three months.
Phyllis Harrison, Stephen Newton and Beverley Hanley all lived alone when they were killed. (Supplied by South Australia Police/AAP PHOTOS)
Opening the prosecution case, Amelia Cairney said each victim was killed in their own home, each was known to the accused, each lived near him, all three had their homes ransacked, and Hainsworth's DNA profile was found at each crime scene.
"Mrs Harrison was stabbed to death with a knife, Ms Hanley suffered blunt and sharp force trauma from more than one object and Mr Newton was punched to death," Ms Cairney said.
"The mode of death may be different and the murders may span a 13-year period, but on the prosecution case, it is no coincidence that each victim was known to the accused and lived nearby at the time of their death.
"It is no coincidence that each victim lived alone and in their own way presented with vulnerability.
"Nor is it any coincidence that each crime scene showed evidence of property being searched or items missing, because on the prosecution case, the accused entered each house looking for money or items of some value."
Mrs Harrison's body was found on the floor of the kitchen of her Elizabeth South home by her daughter and grandson on March 3, 1998. She had multiple stab wounds to her chest and neck.
Ms Cairney said Hainsworth, then aged 23, was living next door, moving in weeks before the murder.
Ms Hanley was a paternal aunt of the accused and they lived within walking distance of each other.
Her body was found by her sister on the afternoon of October 6, 2010.
The trial continues.