Thomas Stapleton-Wescott takes the stand charged with attempted murder, claiming he was framed by older brother

Just hours after an alleged double attempted murder, a man was given a mystery bag by by his older brother – and told to destroy it, a court has heard.

 

A man accused of a grizzly double attempted murder allegedly took the fall for his older brother – the actual perpetrator – who told him to destroy a bag of evidence on the night of the alleged attack, a court has heard.

Thomas Stapleton-Wescott, 34, took the stand on Monday before Justice David Lovell in his judge-alone trial, charged over the bloodied assault that left 66-year-old Neil Sieben and 49-year-old Antoinette Macskimming fighting for life for nearly 20 hours inside their Salisbury home.

Mr Stapleton-Wescott, who has pleaded not guilty to two counts of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated cause serious harm, told the court he played no part in the attack and said his brother Beau had asked to meet him about 8pm – a few hours after the alleged bashing.

“He goes, ‘go over the train tracks, turn left at the big roundabout, follow that up and you’ll see me’,” Thomas said.

“He gave me a bag of items and said ‘just go get rid of it’.

“I just took my backpack off, put it into my backpack, zipped it up, jumped back on my motorbike and he went his way and I went my way.”

Thomas Stapleton-Wescott claims he was framed by his brother Beau. Picture: Facebook

Beau Stapleton-Wescott. Picture: Facebook

The court heard Thomas then drove to Ambers Gully, in Montacute, and set the bag on fire – without knowing its contents. Inside was pieces of clothing and the alleged attempted murder weapon, the court heard.

“So he handed me the items – the bag I put in my backpack – and he handed me some IDs,” Thomas said. “I think it was something along the lines of ‘here’s the c***s’ IDs’.”

David Moen, for the accused, previously told the court Beau had “carefully orchestrated” both an alibi and his movements.

In an explosive testimony last month, Beau told the court his younger brother was a “gutless coward” who should “take his own life”.

During cross-examination, Mr Moen submitted Beau was the mastermind behind the alleged violent attack, and had made a conscious effort to “cover his tracks” and frame his younger brother after he himself brutally bashed victims Neil Sieben and Antoinette Macskimming. Beau has denied the accusation.

The court heard text messages between the brothers on the day of the alleged attack show Beau telling Thomas: ‘I feel like hurting someone’ and ‘I don’t care about a charge – we will just get him outside the gate first’.

The trial continues on Wednesday.

The content summaries were created with the assistance of AI technology, then edited and approved for publication by an editor.