Keith Russell Yandle trial: Alleged murder victim Steven Murphy’s claim a week Kudla shed shooting

The family of slain man Steven Murphy has detailed, to a jury, his final ‘erratic’ days and last words before being fatally shot.

Days before he was fatally shot, alleged murder victim Steven Murphy was told to leave his partner’s property and replied “I will be dead within a week”, a court has heard.

On Wednesday, a Supreme Court jury was told Mr Murphy was “agitated, not himself” and behaving “erratically” prior to his death at the hands of Keith Russell Yandle.

Giving evidence, Mr Murphy’s former partner, Danielle Rogers, said she was “in fear” of him because he “would not accept I didn’t want to be with him”.

Bill Boucaut KC, for Yandle, asked if Mr Murphy was “suicidal”, whether his mental health was “challenged”, and whether he was a user of methylamphetamine.

“His mental health was okay … I think he used (meth) on the odd occasion, not on a regular basis,” she said.

Steven Murphy. Picture: SA Police

Keith Yandle. Sketch: Dave Schaeffer.

Her father, William, told jurors he had asked Mr Murphy to leave the property on his daughter’s behalf.

“I spoke to him and said ‘Danielle doesn’t feel safe so you can’t really stay on the property, it’s for her and the kids, you have to leave’,” he said.

“The last thing Steve said to me was ‘I will be dead within a week’.”

Yandle, 48, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Murphy on February 19, 2023, but guilty to the lesser change of manslaughter.

Prosecutors allege Yandle found Mr Murphy sleeping rough in his shed and, while he was “cowering”, shot him four times – once in the heart, and three times after he fell.

They have further alleged he stood over Mr Murphy and watched him die, then stepped on his hands to check he had passed before burying him underneath the shed.

In her evidence on Wednesday, Ms Rogers said she and Mr Murphy had been in an “on again, off again” relationship for 19 years, and had two children together.

She said she had moved to Kudla from Kadina, and that he followed after receiving “some news about his health”, then left when asked by her father.

Mr Boucaut suggested to Ms Rogers had been “in fear” because Mr Murphy “was a little bit erratic”, and she agreed.

However, she said she “wouldn’t know” if that “had anything to do with drugs”.

Mr Rogers said he was not aware of Mr Murphy using meth, only “the occasional marijuana”, and that his behaviour had been erratic for “two or three years”.

“Danielle told me ‘Dad, Steve is hanging around, I feel unsafe, I need him to move on but he won’t talk to me, come talk to him’,” he said.

The court also heard evidence from Mr Murphy’s sister, Jasmine Mulholland, who reported him missing to police in March 2023.

She said family members had told her Mr Murphy was using “ice and ice pipes”, but she had not personally seen any drug consumption.

“Steve was agitated (around that time), probably not himself … he and Danielle had been having domestic arguments,” she said.

The trial, before Justice Anne Bampton, continues.