Lawyers for convicted killer Karl Hague allege Nick Munn confessed to murder of Ricky Balcombe
Nick Munn allegedly confessed to Geelong’s notorious Market Square murder in the days before he killed his mate Jason Fry in a similar fashion.
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NICK Munn allegedly confessed to Geelong’s notorious Market Square murder in the days before he killed his mate Jason Fry in a similar fashion.
The bombshell claims were aired by lawyers in court for Bell Post Hill man Karl Hague, who was last year found guilty of killing Munn’s friend Ricky Balcombe in the Geelong shopping centre 24 years ago.
The theory that Munn — not Hague — stabbed Balcombe to death in Market Square on May 5, 1995, can be made public after a jury today found Munn guilty of murdering Mr Fry at a North Shore warehouse last year.
It is a key argument in Hague’s bid for an acquittal or retrial on the Balcombe murder, which is now being considered by three Court of Appeal judges.
However, it contradicts a large amount of evidence heard at last year’s seven-week cold case trial.
The jury found Hague attacked the defenceless teen in the shopping centre after an altercation he had with Balcombe and Munn a fortnight earlier.
According to a number of witnesses Munn was in the nearby Golden Cue billiards venue at the time of the killing.
One theory put to the jury was that he might have been Hague’s prime target that day until the opportunity arose to attack Balcombe near the shopping centre lifts.
Public prosecutors argue the claims that Munn claimed responsibility for the Balcombe murder years afterwards are implausible, lack credibility and would be inadmissable in a court.
Even Hague’s lawyers concede the two men who aired them — Rodney James Whitehand and James Middleton — should not be called to testify if a retrial is ordered.
Instead, Hague’s QC Felicity Gerry wants to get Munn in the witness box to ask him if he killed Balcombe when they were both teenagers.
He was not asked that question at his trial, and did not give evidence at Hague’s trial.
Balcombe was killed with a knife, Mr Fry with a hammer.
Both were friends with Munn at the time they were slain.
Several witnesses to the Balcombe stabbing knew Munn, but none identified him as the killer or as the person who ran from the shopping centre, but there were people who placed him in the Golden Cue at that moment.
Most of the descriptions of the killer matched Hague’s appearance at the time, and Balcombe’s friend Paul Bellia told the jury at least year’s trial Hague was the culprit.
He said he was walking with Balcombe when Hague pulled a knife from his jacket, said “do you remember me motherf—ker” and stabbed the 16-year-old.
Hague’s lawyers argue Mr Bellia’s evidence was so unreliable and inconsistent it should not have been presented to the jury.
Munn, Balcombe and Bellia were in a Geelong street gang known for wearing red bandannas when Balcombe was killed.
Munn was the gang’s leader.
Like Bellia, he was supposed to give evidence at Hague’s seven-week murder trial.
A subpoena was issued during the trial to ensure that happened. But he told court at his trial last week he was actively avoiding police detection at the time because he didn’t want to testify.
His efforts to hide found him living with Mr Fry in a converted factory on Seaforth St, North Shore, in early April last year while the Hague trial was in its closing stages.
At his trial last week Munn admitted striking Mr Fry three times with a hammer in an overarm motion.
He said it was an act of self-defence after the victim came at him with a knife, muttering about Hague’s trial.
Munn was still in the witness box in the Supreme Court in Geelong on Friday when Ms Gerry told the Court of Appeal in Melbourne Hague was wrongly convicted last year.
While the two murders were 23 years apart, Ms Gerry said the similarities between them meant her client deserved a retrial and Munn should be made to testify.
“This person (Munn) has a history now of using a weapon in an overarm action to commit a killing,” she said.
“The evidence is consistent with Nick Munn being the (Balcombe) killer. We should have had the opportunity to put that to him, and that he confessed to it twice.”
But prosecutor Angela Ellis said Hague’s lawyers were pushing a conspiracy theory that could not be supported by evidence or logic.
“It’s entirely inconsistent with the evidence of multiple witnesses at the trial,” she said.
“There is no evidence that points to Mr Munn being the person who killed Ricky Balcombe.”
She reminded the appeal judges that Munn and Balcombe were friends.
Had the gang leader wanted to kill his friend, Ms Ellis argued he would have had many opportunities to do it in a less public fashion.
She said at least seven witnesses testified Munn was in the Golden Cue billiard hall when Bellia, frightened, bolted there as Balcombe was stabbed.
Furthermore, she said Bellia knew Munn well and witnessed the stabbing at close range, but never said he was the killer.
In fact, deeply traumatised by his experience, Bellia spent most nights in the following months living with the Munn family at their Anakie home.
“It would be extraordinary to think a 17-year-old boy would return to killer’s home and stay there night after night (if he’d seen Munn kill Balcombe),” Ms Ellis said.
Originally published as Lawyers for convicted killer Karl Hague allege Nick Munn confessed to murder of Ricky Balcombe