Alleged Dale McCauley killer Adrian Mahoney refused bail over cold case

A MAN accused of murdering Willunga artist Dale McCauley following a dispute over a yacht almost two decades ago has been refused bail.

Dale McCauley, who disappeared from his Willunga home in 1998 and is presumed to have been murdered. A man has now been charged with murder over his disappearance.

A MAN accused of murdering Willunga artist Dale McCauley following a dispute over a yacht almost two decades ago has been refused bail.

Adrian Mahoney, 65, of Seaton, last week faced court for the first time accused of the cold case killing of Mr McCauley, 44, who went missing 18 years ago.

Mr McCauley vanished without a trace leaving his truck, passport and Akubra hat — which friends said he would never leave home without — at his Willunga home in January 1998.

Prosecutors have opposed bail arguing Mahoney was a flight risk and could interfere with the investigation.

The court has heard Mahoney was charged with murder after DNA advances were able to identify blood found in his son’s car as Mr McCauley’s.

It will be alleged Mahoney killed Mr McCauley, who he had met while working in the Northern Territory, after he told his alleged killer he wanted to back out of a partnership in the joint purchase of a 41ft yacht.

Mahoney’s lawyer, Tim Blake, told the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Tuesday that the prosecution’s opposition to bail was “tenuous at best”.

He said Mahoney had flown in and out of Australia many times since Mr McCauley’s death, had no issue with surrendering his passport and was willing to submit to stringent home detention conditions which would prevent him from any possible interference with the investigation.

Dale McCauley’s sister Sandra Stokes speaks to the media. Picture: Mark Brake

Last week, prosecutor Sue Agnew told the court Mahoney had forged a note purporting to be by Mr McCauley, saying he was going to work in the Northern Territory, and left it at the Willunga property.

She told the court that in December 1998 Mahoney reported a single barrel shotgun missing, claiming he had lost it in July 1997.

“The police suspect the 18-month delay in reporting the missing firearms was to disguise its involvement in the murder,” Ms Agnew said at the time.

Both prosecutors and defence agreed the case against Mahoney was purely circumstantial. Mr McCauley’s body has never been found.

A 41ft yacht bought months before the disappearance by Dale McCauley and a friend staying with him at the time.

Outside court last week, Mr McCauley’s sister, Sandra Cole-Stokes, also made an impassioned plea for information leading to her brother’s body.

“I do want to find an ending to this, Dale is my younger brother and there are no more brothers and sisters,” she said.

“Our father has passed away; our mother has passed away as well now so I’m the only one that’s left.

Adelaide Magistrate Paul Foley refused Mahoney bail due to the serious nature of the charge.

Mahoney will next appear in court in March.