Alleged murder victim Todd Bradmore was left ‘unrecognisable’ after his housemate allegedly set him on fire in their western suburbs home

A court has heard shocking details on how a man allegedly murdered his western suburbs housemate before fleeing the state.

The office and living room space that was affected by the fire. Picture: Supreme Court

A man who died after his housemate allegedly set him on fire had to be identified by the pattern of his tattoos due to the severe burns on his face leaving him unrecognisable, a court has heard.

Alessandro Giovanni Cavuoto, 35, is standing trial in the Supreme Court charged with murder and two counts of aggravated creating likelihood of serious harm.

Mr Cavuoto has pleaded not guilty to all charges which include allegations that he was holding a lighter when he doused his housemate, Todd Bradmore, 31, with fuel just after 3.30am on March 17, 2021 before fleeing to New South Wales.

Mr Bradmore later succumbed to his burns, from the top of his knees to his head, in the Royal Adelaide Hospital on March 19, 2021.

Todd Bradmore died in the following days. Picture: Facebook

Alessandro Cavuoto is standing trial in the Supreme Court for the, alleged murder of Todd Bradmore in March 2021. Picture: Facebook

Dr Patrick Michael Coghlan, a senior medical practitioner in the Royal Adelaide Hospital’s burns unit, told the court last week that Mr Bradmore was brought to hospital with burns to 80 per cent of his body.

“So his entire body was burnt, starting at the top, from head all the way down to mid thighs and that’s on both front and back, including face, chest, bilateral arms …, and the burns were all, I would say deep, full-thickness burns,” he said.

“In terms of the extent of facial burns, when I saw him, were so significant that he was unrecognisable … both the facial swelling as well as the extent of the burns was so severe that it was very hard to identify, to find any identifying features.

Burnt clothing and shoes found in the backyard. Picture: Supreme Court

The office where Mr Cavuoto and Mr Bradmore were when the alleged incident occurred. Picture: Supreme Court

The bottle allegedly used to store the accelerant thrown on Mr Bradmore. Picture: Supreme Court

“The scalp and skull burns were so severe that eventually, in the first two to three days, the skin desiccated with the skull being on view and the remainder of the burns were so severe that we really had to identify the patient based on a tattoo pattern.

“So we had a photograph of who was proposed the patient and we could compare the tattoos that were still visible and they matched the patient that we were told that we were operating on.”

Dr Coghlan said Mr Bradmore was later taken to the Intensive Care Unit where he was treated before he went into multi-organ failure.

“So because he was so severely unwell, if we had tried to operate on him further, we felt he would have died, and so the decision, after discussion with Mr Bradmore’s family, was made to change the direction of his treatment and commence a focus on comfort treatment,” he said.

“Unfortunately, he died soon after that decision was made, probably within, you know several hours of that decision being made.”

Dr Coghlan said he “wouldn’t challenge” the fact that Mr Bradmore’s clothes had caught fire and an accelerant was involved.

“Yes, could be consistent with burning clothes,” he said when questioned by Ms Dunlop.

It is also alleged the fire caused injuries to Mr Bradmore’s partner, who was also living in the house, and her friend who was visiting from interstate.

On Wednesday, Kevin Brian Fitzgerald, who has been working for the Metropolitan Fire Service for almost 40 years, said he found Mr Bradmore with severe injuries when he attended the Woodville West home.

Hair found on the bathroom door. Picture: Supreme Court

Blood on the shower door. Picture: SA Supreme Court

The bottom of the shower following the fire. Picture: Supreme Court

“I noticed a gentleman, casualty, with severe burns with a SAPOL policeman by the back tap and he was trying to direct water from the top onto his burns,” he said.

“I then made the decision to take the high-pressure line over to the casualty and put it on a light fog and cool him down with his burns.

“He was in a lot of pain. The policeman was asking him questions ‘who did this to you?’ and, as far as I could hear or see, that he was in too much pain even to answer a direct question from the police.

“What I could establish, that he had very bad facial burns and also, to me, it appeared that his hands were very badly burnt and bleeding.”

Evidence pictures taken at the house where Alessandro Cavuoto allegedly set his housemate on fire resulting in fatal injuries. Picture: Supreme Court

Mr Fitzgerald said that during a search of the house he discovered blood “all over the shower”.

“I found in the bathroom the shower’s going, was on, and there was blood, I noticed blood all over the shower,” he said.

In her opening address, Prosecutor Lisa Dunlop, told the court that Mr Cavuoto had allegedly told his other housemate that he had set the alleged victim on fire and didn’t know why.

“When he (the other housemate) walked out of the petrol station … he saw Mr Cavuoto standing by his car,” she said.

“Mr Cavuoto said: ‘I just set Todd on fire, I don’t know why I did it’.

“(The housemate) will say he didn’t see any injuries or damage to the clothes he was wearing.”

Alessandro Cavuoto at Adelaide Airport after he was extradited from New South Wales. Picture: 9News

Ms Dunlop said it’s further alleged that, after setting Mr Bradmore on fire, the accused got into his car and drove to the petrol station where he talked to the other housemate before fleeing the state to New South Wales and getting into a car chase which resulted in an accident.

“New South Wales police tried to stop him …, and at about 7.30, after a short active pursuit by New South Wales police, he crashed his car and the police caught up to him,” she said.

“He’s unconscious and he’s obviously injured from the crash, the car is damaged.

“He’s later extracted from the car and flown to hospital.”

The trial before Justice Adam Kimber continues.