Ned Timothy Hutchinson denies bludgeoning Oliver Todd to death in Supreme Court murder trial

A man accused of helping in a brutal Murray Bridge murder has told a court he was threatened before he helped to dump Oliver Todd’s body at Jervois.

An accused murderer watched a man he knew as “crazy Dave” repeatedly smash a small axe over the head of the victim before being told he would be next, a court has heard.

Giving evidence in his own defence, Ned Timothy Hutchinson, 32, told the Supreme Court he was not involved in the bludgeoning murder of Murray Bridge man Oliver Todd, 47, but had helped dump his body 20km away in a paddock at Jervois.

Mr Hutchinson told the court he had been helping David Russell move belongings to Mr Todd’s home when he went inside to find the men “having a bit of a fight” and intervened.

“Dave came running back in, he sort of grabbed me, threw me out of the way sort of … and then Dave, he struck Ollie with what appeared to be a small axe,” Mr Hutchinson said.

“He took a big swing. I just remember seeing the shiny head of the axe and a wooden handle.

“Ollie yelled out like ‘No Dave’ (but) before he could finish the word ‘Dave’, Dave had hit him, I believe, in the top of the head somewhere with an axe.”

Mr Hutchinson said Russell – who has pleaded guilty to murder – continued to strike Mr Todd.

Ned Hutchinson. Picture: SAPOL

Oliver Todd was murdered in December 2019.

He said he stepped away before asking Russell why he attacked Mr Todd.

“I think I was saying ‘What the f —k Dave?” Mr Hutchinson said. “He sort of turned around and looked at me. He smiled.

“He then proceeded to walk up to me and he said to me ‘Now you’re going to help me … you are going to help me or you are going to be next’.”

Mr Hutchinson said that as Russell – whose nickname was ‘Crazy Dave’ – made the threat, he “wiggled” the axe around in his hands.

He told Justice Kevin Nicholson, who is presiding over the trial in the absence of a jury, he was “shocked” and “felt sick” so he went outside and waited.

Mr Hutchinson said Russell called him back inside about 15 minutes later, when he found Mr Todd’s body wrapped in a blanket with something over his head.

He said under instruction from Russell, the pair put Mr Todd’s body in Mr Hutchinson’s ute and drove to Jervois.

Mr Hutchinson sad he sat inside his ute to roll a cigarette while he watched Russell cover Mr Todd’s body with rocks and grass, before they went to a property at Woods Point to shower and wash the ute.

Terrence Wilson. Picture: SA Police

Mr Hutchinson is standing trial alongside another man, Terrence Bradley Wilson, who is also charged with Mr Todd’s murder.

Opening the trial last month, Kos Lesses, prosecuting told the court Mr Todd had been bludgeoned to death in a “nasty and deliberate attack”, possibly with a hammer, over allegations he had acted inappropriately towards Mr Wilson’s niece.

He also said that Mr Wilson allegedly harboured a belief that Mr Todd was flirting with his girlfriend.

Mr Lesses had also told the court Mr Todd, Russell and his alleged murderers were all drug addicts.

“These may not sound like motivations for a murder, but in the minds of a group of drug-addled brains it may have been enough,” he said.

The trial continues.