Not guilty: Ned Timothy Hutchison and Terrence Bradley Wilson acquitted of murder of Oliver Todd
The two men accused of the violent bashing murder of Oliver Todd in Murray Bridge have been found not guilty.
Police & Courts
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Two men accused of a violent murder in Murray Bridge have been acquitted of their charges.
In the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning, Justice Nicholson found both Ned Timothy Hutchinson and Terrence Bradley Wilson not guilty of murder or manslaughter.
Justice Nicholson said Hutchinson would be convicted of another offence, namely assisting an offender, at another time and was remanded in custody.
“I regret I am not in a position to publish reasons today, I will publish them as soon as I can and I will deal with that issue … and formally convict Mr Hutchinson on the occasion I deliver my reason,” he said.
Wilson was also remanded in custody, and is facing serious separate charges over another matter in the District Court.
Both men will return to the Supreme Court for mention and potential lesser charges over Mr Todd’s death in September.
Mr Todd was struck multiple times to the head with a weapon suspected to be a hammer on the morning of December 11, 2019.
Police attended the house later that day after Steven Weeding, Mr Todd’s housemate, raised the alarm.
Mr Weeding returned to their house to find Mr Todd’s dog Gangster lapping at a pool of blood.
The trail of blood, which turned into drag marks, began in the bedroom of the house and stretched through the house and out the backdoor.
Mr Todd’s body was found in a paddock 20km away wrapped in a blanket and secured with ratchet straps.
David Russell, nicknamed “Crazy Dave”, has already pleaded guilty to murdering Mr Todd.
During the trial Mr Hutchinson said he had witnessed Russell bludgeon Mr Todd to death but had not been involved in the actual murder.
Rather, Mr Hutchinson said he had helped Russell dump the body.
The court heard during the trial that Mr Todd had argued with Mr Wilson earlier in the evening before the attack.
The house that Mr Todd and Mr Weeding lived in was known as a local drop in house for drug addicts.
Video footage of the house shows the rooms in disarray with dog faeces spread across one room and used syringes in the fire place.
Mr Weeding said his housemate had arrived home around midnight and told Mr Wilson “look here you black c**t you kicked me out of your girlfriend’s house and now I’m going to kick you out of my house.”
He said Mr Wilson raised his fist to punch Mr Todd.
“He was ready to punch him, he had his fist fully loaded,” he said. “(Mr Todd) was whimpering like a mongrel dog.”
Mr Wilson left after being told to get out by Mr Weeding.
Around 2.30am Mr Russell came back to the house and offered to share some cannabis with Mr Weeding. Half an hour later Mr Hutchinson arrived.
They left after Mr Hutchinson said “come on Dave, we’ve got things to do”.
Around 4am Mr Weeding said he saw Mr Hutchinson and Mr Russell reverse into the backyard of the house.
From the darkness of the kitchen window, he watched as the men got out of the car and stared at each other for a minute, before getting back in the vehicle and driving off.
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