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 Charlie Gander, whose body was found in a burnt car on December 24, 2022.
They have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The prosecution alleges the trio kidnapped 19-year-old Mr Gander, killed him, and then burnt his body.
Their trial at the Supreme Court in Melbourne started on Thursday, May 29, and is expected to last up to five weeks.
On the first day of the trial, prosecutor Mark Gibson KC told the court what happened to Mr Gander was a “misplaced allegiance” to another man — Tyson May who Mr Gander was said to have “dobbed on”.
Mr Gibson said Ms Stott was friends with Mr May and she hated Mr Gander for “what she described as being a rat” against her friend.
He said Mr D’Elio was motivated by his “deep affection” for Ms Stott, while Mr Clarke was enlisted by Ms Stott, who he had known for many years to “help them make Charlie Gander pay for his perceived sin”.
The jury was told by Mr Gibson that it was a circumstantial case, where pieces of evidence — when considered as a whole – would show what happened.
Mr Gibson said a pathologist would tell the court that an “exact cause of death was unknown”, however the prosecution says he was killed and then the vehicle he was found in set alight to destroy Mr Gander’s body and evidence that linked them to his death.
The court was told the car fire was spotted by a woman who was driving in a remote area at Bunbartha just before 10am on December 24, 2022.
The car was well alight when she arrived, and the prosecutor said the Crown alleged the car would have been set alight 20-25 minutes earlier.
He also told of two vehicles seen in that area before the fire – with one the Ford Territory that was found burnt out, and the other a dark coloured Holden Caprice.
The Crown alleges Mr Gander and the three accused were in the two vehicles.
Mr Gibson also told the court when police put Mr Gander’s name through the police database, it brought up an incident report from five weeks earlier – November 17, 2022.
It described police going to the Shepparton house of Tyson May for a Firearm Prohibition Order compliance check.
On arrival they saw Mr Gander run from the house and throw a homemade gun – 0.22 calibre handgun modified from a stapler – over a neighbour’s fence.
Mr Gander and Mr May were charged with possession of a firearm.
In a statement to police, Mr Gander admitted being in possession of the gun, but told police he received the firearm from Mr May who “instructed him to get rid of it”.
The trial will continue in the Supreme Court before Justice Michael Croucher on Friday, May 30, where the prosecutor will continue with his opening statement.
