Accused Killer Zlatko Sikorsky refused to take Larissa Beilby to hospital, court told
A highly experienced forensic pathologist has told a Brisbane court she has never seen injuries like those on teenager Larissa Beilby, whose body was found in a barrel on the back of a ute south of Brisbane in 2018.
Crime & Justice
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A FORENSIC pathologist who has conducted autopsies on 7000 bodies during her career has told a court she has never seen injuries like those on slain teenager Larissa Beilby.
Sydney-based Dr Dianne Little today gave evidence during accused killer Zlatko Sikorsky’s committal hearing in the Beenleigh Magistrates Court over the alleged murder of his girlfriend Ms Beilby, who was found in a barrel at Buccan, south of Brisbane in June 23, 2018.
While Ms Little was unable to provide a cause of death because of the extent of decomposition, she told the court the 16-year-old girl had suffered “multiple different impacts” from blunt force trauma to her head, neck and limbs, which had “coalesced” into one continuous bruise.
She said the bruising was likely to have been caused prior to the girl’s death because there were signs of inflammation in all bruising areas tested by the lab.
“There was actually evidence of inflammation in relation to quite a number of the injuries, which showed that they had happened before death … and to be honest I have done over 7000 autopsies and I have never seen anything like this,” Dr Little said.
The court heard the autopsy showed Ms Beilby had a small amount of the drug ice in her system, but it could not have caused her death.
Ms Little agreed under cross-examination from defence barrister Tim Ryan the 16-year-old could have died from asphyxiation, as her mouth showed signs of being gagged.
“It’s impossible to exclude the proposition that death occurred by asphyxiation with a gag while being restrained?” Mr Ryan asked.
“That’s quite possible,” Dr Little replied.
The hearing continues tomorrow.
Earlier today, the court heard that Sikorsky allegedly refused to take his injured girlfriend Larissa Beilby to hospital after bashing her in the face, instead telling his mate he wanted to “knock her”.
Witness Scott George Thompson conceded under cross-examination he never told police about the alleged conversation with his mate Sikorsky, where he claims the man said the girl knew too much and he wanted to “knock her”.
Ms Beilby had been reported missing by her father one day before her body was found in the barrel in the back of a ute, which had been dumped at Stapylton.
During today’s hearing, Mr Thompson, who lived at the property where the 16-year-old was allegedly killed, told the court his dogs ran out of the house and he heard a scream from Sikorsky’s car, when the man arrived at his property on the day Ms Beilby was allegedly murdered.
Mr Thompson said Sikorsky, who he calls John, told him he had punched the 16-year-old and she “wasn’t in a good way”.
“He was saying her face is in a bad way and it’s getting infected and she’s rubbing s--- all over her face,” he said.
Mr Thompson said he told Sikorsky “it can’t be that bad” and asked if he could walk down to the car and see her but the alleged murderer refused.
“He was saying he wanted to knock her,” Mr Thompson said during evidence.
“I said: ‘She can’t be that bad and I said: ‘Could I go and see her and let me talk to her?’ I said: ‘Just take her to the hospital, just drop her there and whatever happens happens’.”
Mr Thompson later said during evidence Sikorsky told him “he’s got to get rid of this chick”.
“I said: ‘Take her to the hospital’ and he said: ‘No, she knows too much’,” Mr Thompson said.
Mr Thompson, who the court heard was an ice dealer and smoked the drug daily during June last year, said Sikorsky told him Ms Beilby was “driving him insane”.
The man then left the property but later received a call from Sikorsky when he was driving, he claims.
“He rang on the phone and said he was driving her to the hospital and I could hear her screaming or saying something,” Mr Thompson told the court.
Her later said: “I heard her saying something, I think she started screaming, yeah”.
The court heard Mr Thompson had not told police when interviewed of the conversations about taking the teenager to the hospital.
Under tense cross-examination by defence barrister Tim Ryan, Mr Thompson “was scared he (Sikorsky) would come back and shoot us (he and his girlfriend)” if he had reported the details to police when giving a statement.
“I am still in fear now,” Mr Thompson said.
Mr Thompson said he did not leave the shed where Sikorsky told him he was going to “knock” the 16-year-old and walk to the car at the back of his property to check on Ms Beilby because he was afraid Sikorsky would shoot him.
“Obviously he was high on meth, had guns and he was really twitchy, I just didn’t want to get shot,” he said.
Mr Thompson also told the court Sikorsky “had the gun on him all the time”.
During his evidence Mr Thompson claimed he had been in a drug haze and had trouble remembering specific details from the days surrounding the alleged murder.
The court heard Sikorsky had stayed at Mr Thompson’s home with Ms Beilby and the group had smoked ice together previously.
The court heard the Buccan property had 14 security cameras.
Mr Thompson’s girlfriend Jessica Schultz told the court during evidence she provided CCTV to police as part of the investigation, which she did not originally disclose.
The court heard Sikorsky had allegedly approached Ms Schultz later on and asked her to “wipe all the cameras” to “get rid of everything”.
“I just wanted to do what he asked and not have any dramas,” she said.
The court also heard Ms Schultz told police in a statement she mopped up a stain in the shed but under cross-examination today claimed she didn’t remember if it was her or Mr Thompson who has mopped the stain.
Ms Schultz also recalled the conversation she and Mr Thompson has with the accused killer about taking Ms Beilby to a hospital.
“We spoke about the fact that he needed to take Larissa to the hospital and the defendant was saying the only options were to drop her off at the mental hospital or he knocks her,” she claimed during evidence.
She said she told Sikorsky: “The only thing to do is take her to the hospital but whatever comes our way we’ll deal with it but we wont take any responsibility for anything else that happens.”
“ … meaning if he did anything to her that’s not our shoulders, that’s not our responsibility,”
Ms Schultz clarified from the witness box.
Sikorsky is alleged to have left the ute with Ms Beilby’s body in the barrel at the property before fleeing in another car to the Sunshine Coast.
Mr Thompson told the court Sikorsky allegedly told him there were drugs and money in the barrel.
The 34-year-old man was arrested following a large-scale manhunt and 24-hour siege at Alexandra Headlands after the discovery of Ms Beilby’s body.
Sikorsky has also been charged with several other offences including misconduct with a corpse, torture, deprivation of liberty and possession of weapons.
The committal hearing will run for three days.
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