Adam Troy Bennett stands trial accused of murdering travelling companion Peter Hillier at Poochera, Eyre Peninsula
A man accused of brutally beating his travelling companion to death in regional South Australia allegedly told police a series of lies about what happened, a court has heard.
Police & Courts
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A man accused of murder told “spectacular lies” to emergency services about how his travelling companion died from serious injuries – including that he had fallen from their motorhome while driving, a court has heard.
Opening the Supreme Court trial of Adam Troy Bennett, 44, who is accused of the bashing murder of Peter Hillier, 64, prosecutor Patrick Hill said the Crown will allege Mr Bennett had lied to the triple-0 operator, ambulance officers and police about what happened.
“The accused told the operator what, on the Crown case, was a spectacular lie,” he said.
Mr Hillier was found dead at a holiday home at Venus Bay, on the Eyre Peninsula, in May last year after Mr Bennett, who has pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder, called triple-0 from a payphone at the seaside town’s general store.
Mr Hill said the lies Mr Bennett allegedly told during the triple-0 call included that the pair had gone fishing at Port Lincoln and the deceased was driving home.
He said Mr Bennett had told the operator Mr Hillier “sort of just jumped out of the car whilst he was driving” and he had “sort of run himself over”. He also told the operator he had managed to stop the vehicle from the passenger seat, then returned and collected Mr Hillier.
Mr Hill said the only truth Mr Bennett had told during the call was that Mr Hillier was cold to touch.
He said ambulance officers had arrived 20 minutes later to find Mr Hillier “had likely been dead for some time”.
Mr Hill said prosecutors would instead allege Mr Bennett had “bashed the deceased to death in a drunken rage” at a block of land behind Dusty’s Art Gallery at Poochera, a small grain-belt town near Streaky Bay on the Eyre Peninsula.
He said the men had been drinking with the owner of the gallery on a stormy Sunday afternoon in May 2022 after Mr Bennett had arranged with the owner to buy a block of land behind the gallery for $25,000 and the gallery itself for a further $55,000.
He said after drinking for a couple of hours Mr Bennett had wanted to leave to return to their rented holiday home in Venus Bay, about an hour away, but Mr Hillier did not want to leave.
“In the course of the accused trying to shove the deceased into the passenger seat of this motorhome, the deceased fell to the ground,” he said.
He said the court would hear evidence the accused had become “increasingly frustrated with the deceased’s resistance to leave”.
“When he was in this position on his back, the accused straddled him as he lay on the ground. He then picked up a large piece of rock which he pushed roughly into Mr Hillier’s face. Not so much striking him with it, but more pressing, or shoving it, into his face and then … he punched him hard to the head, and repeatedly.”
He said Mr Hillier’s cause of death was established as “multiple blunt head trauma” at autopsy.
“The whole front of Mr Hillier’s head and face was severely bruised and swollen … indicative, on the Crown case, of a severe beating focused on the head.”
He said it was not known when the men then returned from Poochera to Venus Bay, other than they had returned before Mr Bennett made the triple-0 call about 10.30am the next day.
Mr Hill said the men had arrived in Venus Bay on May 5, 2022, after buying a motorhome in Adelaide a month earlier for $106,000 and had visited the general store to buy a bottle of Wild Turkey every day for the weeks that followed, drinking the store out of stock.
He said Mr Bennett had told the manager of the general store his name was Peter Hilleo and never corrected her about his names in the week that followed.
He said Mr Bennett was “physically superior” to Mr Hillier who suffered from physical and mental health conditions. He said former neighbours of Mr Hillier in NSW would give evidence to the court that they had previously seen Mr Bennett attack Mr Hillier.
The court heard the men had met one another while at a fire evacuation centre in rural New South Wales in December 2019, before Mr Hillier sold his home and the pair began travelling together.
Mr Hill said the alleged lies Mr Bennett had told the triple-0 operator – and repeated to ambulance officers and police – could be used as evidence as a “consciousness of guilt” by the accused.
David Moen, for Mr Bennett, told Justice Sandi McDonald, who is presiding over the trial in the absence of a jury, that the issues for her to determine would be causation and intention to kill.
“There was no intention to kill at any time,” he said.
He said the cause of death and motive would also be “hotly contested”, including whether his head came in contact with the ground as he fell from the motorhome.
The trial is continuing.
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