Danny Clarke, 41, of Shepparton, Dimitri D’Elio, 27, of Mooroopna, and Kylie Stott, 40, of Shepparton, are each charged with murder, kidnapping and arson over the death of 19-year-old Benalla man Charlie Gander, whose body was found in a burnt car on December 24, 2022.
The prosecution alleges the trio entered into an agreement, arrangement or understanding to kidnap and kill Mr Gander, before burning his body in a car they set fire to on a remote road at Bunbartha.
They have pleaded not guilty to the charges and were on trial in the Supreme Court for 29 days from Thursday, May 29 to Thursday, July 10.
Justice Michael Croucher began delivering his final instructions “necessary for you to be able to decide this case” to the jury on Wednesday, July 9.
One of the topics Justice Croucher continued instructing the jury on was incriminating conduct, or how people behave after an alleged crime.
He reminded the jury “people panic under pressure”, and although conduct can make people look guilty of an offence, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are.
He proceeded to go through the lies each of the accused had told.
These included Mr D’Elio telling police he didn’t know anything about the incident, Ms Stott said she didn’t know Loch Garry Rd and she’d never been there, and Mr Clarke saying he didn’t know who Mr Gander was.
Prosecutor Mark Gibson had said the reason each of the accused lied was because they knew the truth would incriminate them with the charges.
In Justice Croucher’s summing up of counsel’s closing addresses, the prosecution said there was “overwhelming evidence” the trio acted together and was “united in purpose” even if they had since turned on each other.
The prosecution had said both Mr D’Elio and Mr Clarke’s accounts were “riddled with lies” to exculpate them from the offending.
The jury was told if they determine an agreement was in place, they don’t need to determine who played what role.
In Ms Stott’s defence counsel’s closing address, he said his client had no intention to kill Mr Gander or to be part of a plan to do so, Justice Croucher said.
In Mr D’Elio’s defence counsel’s closing address, he said Ms Stott was the “mastermind” who had the most to gain, Mr Clarke was the “standover man”, and his client had been dragged along, panicked, and was new to the criminal world, the court heard.
In Mr Clarke’s defence counsel’s closing address, he said his client didn’t know Mr Gander and was no more than guilty by association after being “dragged into a terrible crime”.
Justice Croucher told the jury because there were three accused each facing four charges each – if they are found not guilty of murder and have to decide if they’re guilty of manslaughter – they were hearing 12 separate trials at the same time for convenience.
“It’s possible for you to reach different verdicts for different accused on the same charge,” he said.
He said it was okay if they reached a verdict relying on different parts of evidence, but it must be unanimous.
They will be given copies of the exhibit list, witness list and transcripts of evidence which can be replayed for them.
Justice Croucher encouraged them to ask any follow-up questions, however to not include any voting numbers.
He took the jury through the proceedings of what court will look like when they reach a verdict.
Finally, as per trial conduct, the jury was cut from 14 to 12 before they went out to deliberate.
“Take whatever time necessary to come to your verdicts,” Justice Croucher said.
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