Steven Hainsworth faces SA Supreme Court accused of murdering Phyllis Harrison, Beverley Hanley and Stephen Newton

The man alleged to be a serial killer of vulnerable SA pensioners has gone on trial – and the prosecution claims he spray-painted a victim’s house to conceal forensic evidence.

The long-unsolved, “violent and deliberate” alleged murders of three vulnerable pensioners were all committed, over a 13-year span, by one man, a court has heard.

On Tuesday, Steven Leslie Hainsworth faced the Supreme Court to stand trial for the alleged murders of Phyllis Harrison, Beverley Hanley and Stephen Newton.

The trio died years apart and as much as 450km from one another, but prosecutor Amelia Cairney alleged Mr Hainsworth is responsible for all three crimes.

She said he was Ms Harrison’s next-door neighbour when she was fatally stabbed and the nephew of Ms Hanley – who died of blunt force trauma alongside a bloody cricket bat.

She said Mr Hainsworth was also a “known associate” of Mr Newton – who had been “punched to death” before evidence was spray-painted green in an attempt to “conceal” it.

Opening the trial, Ms Cairney conceded the case against Hainsworth was mostly circumstantial, but said the connections between each death were strong.

“This trial is about the deaths of three people, and all three were killed in a violent and deliberate manner,” she said.

“All three were killed in their own homes where they lived alone, all three were known to the accused.

“All three lived in close proximity to the accused at the time of their death, all three had their properties searched and ransacked after their death.

“On the prosecution case, all three crimes scenes (bear) a DNA profile consistent with the accused’s presence at the scene.

“Their modes of death may be different, and the murders might be years apart, but it’s no coincidence each victim was known to the accused.

“It’s no coincidence they lived alone and were, in their own way, vulnerable, and that each crime scene shows items and property missing.”

THE ALLEGATIONS AGAINST STEVEN HAINSWORTH

Mr Hainsworth, 49, of Mildura in Victoria, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Phyllis Harrison, 71, on March 3, 1998.

Mrs Harrison, who was found stabbed to death in her Elizabeth South home, was Mr Hainsworth’s next-door neighbour at the time.

He has also pleaded not guilty to murdering his aunt, Beverley Hanley, on October 5, 2010.

She suffered fatal head wounds and her home was ransacked.

Mr Hainsworth, at the time, lived two streets away from her and had last visited her three months earlier.

Mr Hainsworth has also pleaded not guilty to murdering invalid pensioner Stephen Newton, sometime prior to the discovery of his body on November 4, 2011.

Mr Newton’s Mount Gambier home was ransacked, and his possessions were later recovered from South East pawn shops.

In addition to his not guilty pleas, Mr Hainsworth publicly denied any wrongdoing in a 2019 interview with The Advertiser, insisting he is “an innocent man”.

TRIAL OF STEVEN HAINSWORTH BEGINS

On Tuesday, members of Mrs Harrison’s family listened from the public gallery as Mr Hainsworth formally re-entered his pleas of not guilty to four counts of murder.

The first three counts relate individually to the deaths of Mrs Harrison, Mrs Hanley and Mr Newton.

The fourth count also relates to Mr Newton, and is the alternative offence of “felony murder”.

Under law, felony murder is committed if a person engages in a major indictable offence and, during the process of that crime, perpetrates an act of violence that results in a person’s death.

Andrew Fowler-Walker, for Mr Hainsworth, said there were outstanding pre-trial evidentiary issues still to be resolved.

Those issues, he said, included telephone intercepts and listening device records.

“One of the motives the prosecution will allege is that my client needed money, that he never had money, therefore he was motivated to rob people,” he said.

“However there are some (recorded) calls that occur, prior to the Stephen Newton killing, that one might think indicate drug dealing.

“Of course, that gives an entirely new (consideration) as to why my client might have been cagey about what he was speaking about on the phone.”

However Justice Adam Kimber, who is hearing the trial in the absence of a jury, said many of those matters could be dealt with as the evidence progressed.

“I will benefit from hearing some evidence to place into context the prosecution submissions about (those issues) and whatever you might say about them,” he said.

PHYLLIS HARRISON’S DEATH

In her opening address, Ms Cairney said Mr Hainsworth was 23 years old when he moved in next door to Mrs Harrison.

“It’s the prosecution case he entered her home, likely by an unlocked door into a games area sometime around 8pm on March 2, 1998, looking for items,” she said.

“Having encountered Mrs Harrison, he stabbed and killed her.”

She said there was “extremely strong support for the hypothesis” Mr Hainsworth was a match to DNA samples sourced from on and around Mrs Harrison’s body.

However, she conceded those samples had sustained “contamination” over the decades since, and that evidence would be called about that issue.

“Significantly, given the presence of his DNA profile, the accused denied ever having been inside the victim’s home,” he said.

Ms Cairney said Mr Hainsworth maintained he had only ever been in Mrs Harrison’s yard, collecting a tennis ball, around the time of the alleged murder.

“Mr Hainsworth was a user of illicit drugs … the victim’s handbag had been upturned, its contents strewn around the floor not far from her body,” she said.

“The lids of several jewellery tins had been removed.”

She said Mr Hainsworth had made “admissions to various people in the aftermath of the murder”, as well as to having “used a knife to stab an old lady”.

She said that, in 2007, a knife matching the injuries sustained by Mrs Harrison was found “two doors down” from her former home.

BEVERLEY HANLEY’S DEATH

Ms Cairney said Ms Hanley died from both blunt force trauma and incisions to her neck that cut her carotid artery and jugular.

A bloody cricket bat was found near her body, she said, along with bloody footprints.

A neighbour, she said, later reported “hearing Mrs Hanley being murdered around 8am” the day of her death.

“The accused was alone an unaccounted for at the time of her death,” she said.

Ms Cairney said Mr Hainsworth’s associates would give evidence they had spent time together that morning trying to buy drugs, and that he had mentioned “wanting to steal a lawnmower”.

“The accused was a regular user of drugs who resorted to theft to fund his habit,” she said.

She said evidence key to Mrs Hanley’s alleged murder arose from her distinctive light-up telephone.

“A DNA profile matching the accused was found on a disconnected plug and cord of the light-up phone on which Mrs Hanley was highly reliant due to having a hearing impairment,” she said.

“Her family members will tell the court it (the phone) was always connected.”

She said Mr Hainsworth and his associates parted ways but, later that day, he returned to them to borrow “shoes and an outfit” to replace his “marked clothing”.

Ms Cairney said Mrs Hanley’s home had been ransacked and that, notably, her digital camera and three-ring jewellery set “with missing stones” were taken.

That camera was later recovered at a local pawn shop, having been pawned by one of Mr Hainsworth’s associates at his request, the court was told.

She said the rings had been destroyed but the camera bore Mrs Hanley’s DNA profile.

“Asked about the DNA result in 2019, the accused told police that the camera belonged to him,” she said.

“He could not account for Mrs Hanley’s DNA on the item.”

She said that, like with Mrs Harrison’s alleged murder, the court would hear evidence of “admissions” by Mr Hainsworth “in the aftermath” of Mrs Hanley’s death.

STEPHEN NEWTON’S DEATH

Ms Cairney said the evidence surrounding Mr Newton’s alleged murder was not only forensic, but included an eyewitness account.

She said that account would come from Mr Hainsworth’s partner at the time.

“Mr Newton lived a quiet, peaceful life, and his absence was not immediately noticed by others,” she said.

“Attempts had been made to conceal the physical evidence left behind by the offender … with Mr Newton’s body, along with light switches and door handles, spray-painted green.

“Attempts to start a fire were identified in two separate areas of the home.”

She said the prosecution would allege Mr Hainsworth punched Mr Newton to death in order to steal his property, because he was “a regular drug user” who was “struggling financially”.

Mr Hainsworth had, she said, inquired of people in the days prior to the alleged murder whether Mr Newton owned anything of value, and if he grew cannabis.

Ms Cairney said dried cannabis material was subsequently found in the home, after the alleged murder, along with pots under hydroponic lighting.

DNA profiles matching both Mr Hainsworth and his then-partner were, she said, located around and on Mr Newton’s body.

She said Mr Newton’s property was pawned at shops around the area by Mr Hainsworth and by his associates “at his direction”.

Other property, she said, was found at the home of Mr Hainsworth’s previous partner and their children.

Mr Hainsworth had, she said, made admissions to others following the alleged murder.

Ms Cairney said all three alleged murders needed to be considered together, and the evidence in each separate case was cross-admissible in the other two.

She said that, considered in totality, the evidence “refuted any innocent explanation” consistent with Mr Hainsworth having not committed the murders.

PHYLLIS HARRISON’S GRANDSON GIVES EVIDENCE

The prosecution’s first witness was Mrs Harrison’s grandson, Luke Smoker.

He said it was common for he and his mother to drop in and see Mrs Harrison on their way home from school.

Asked whether he remembered March 1998, when he was 11 years old, Mr Smoker said: “I most definitely do.”

“I remember after school getting picked up by my mother and then going into Nanna’s house and finding her on the kitchen floor with a pool of blood next to her head,” he said.

“That’s why I remember that day.”

He said he was headed for Mrs Harrison’s lounge room to “pop the tellie on, sit on the couch” but did not make it.

“As I went toward the lounge room, I caught a glimpse of Nanna’s feet on my left-hand side,” he said.

“My brain was like ‘that’s a strange spot for Nanna to be sleeping’ … I moved closer … then I saw the blood up near the head and I yelled out to mum something along the lines of ‘mum, mum, come have a look at this’.

“Mum came in … then let out a bit of a shriek or an ‘oh no’ or something similar … she went over to touch Nanna to sort of stir her, then she got on the phone.”

The trial continues.