Kynan Ignacio Vital, Ethan Maurice Macpherson charged with murder of David Murphy

A committal hearing has heard ongoing tensions between a father and his daughter’s boyfriend led to tragedy on the streets of Springfield, with a witness telling a court she heard a man say “tell him to come, I’ll kill him”.

ONE of two men accused of murdering Springfield dad David Murphy on his 49th birthday was found on the roof of his girlfriend’s house in the moments leading up to the tragedy, an Ipswich court has heard in committal proceedings this week.

Ethan Maurice Macpherson, 20, and Kynan Ignacio Vital, 20, are each charged with the murder of David Murphy at Springfield Lakes in the late evening of October 19, 2019.

Vital, from Molendinar, is on Supreme Court bail and sat outside the glass dock where Macpherson was seated having been brought into Ipswich Magistrates Court from jail.

Vital, at the time of the alleged incident, was the boyfriend of Mr Murphy’s daughter Julia.

The two young men sat silently as their defence counsel cross-examined the first of more than a dozen witnesses in a two-day committal hearing before Ipswich Magistrate Dennis Kinsella.

Julia Murphy, when cross-examined on her evidence by Vital’s defence barrister Angus Edwards, agreed she had received texts from Vital that night saying he was going to change and wanted to make their relationship work.

Julia Murphy leaves court after giving evidence in the committal hearing of Kynan Vital and Ethan Macpherson, who are accused of murdering her father.

She said she had not been surprised to find him at her house after returning from her father’s birthday party.

Vital was told to leave and later that night after hearing noises outside she found Vital on the roof.

There had been a Facetime call with her mother, Cinnamon Murphy, who wanted to know if Vital was harassing her.

Mr Edwards read out part of Julia’s police statement saying ‘mum told me she would send dad and Brad (Bradley Murchie) out to sort Kynan out’.

“Was he (Vital) being threatening,” Mr Edwards asked her.

“No,” Julia said.

Ms Murphy was questioned about an incident several weeks earlier in which Vital told her that her father had used a baseball bat on him.

She said she asked her father and he told her that “he never took the baseball bat out of the car” and denied hitting Vital.

Ms Murphy said she had not seen a bat in his car, only that “mum told me he had a bat in the boot in case something happened”.

Ms Murphy said she had never been close friends with Ethan (Macpherson).

The court heard witness Linda Chou, Julia’s housemate at the time, was present during the Facetime call with Julia’s mother that night.

During the phone call she and Julia went outside with Vital on the roof.

She said Vital, “wanted to fight David when he arrived”.

Kynan Vital (left) is accused of the murder of David Murphy at Springfield.

“You said Mr Vital yelled something out (when on roof) during the call,” Mr Edwards said.

“All I remember is something along the lines, ‘tell him to come, I‘ll kill him’,” Ms Chou said.

“Julia told him David was coming and that was his response: ‘Tell him to come, I’ll kill him’.

She also said that David (Mr Murphy) was intending only to come over and pick her and Julia up and take them back to his house, not to fight anyone.

The court heard she and Julia were to go out for drinks at a dessert bar. She saw a silver car in the street and later when back inside heard a ute taking off.

In further questioning Ms Chou said she’d pleaded guilty in court to having been in possession of cannabis and MDMA that night, but no one had used the drugs.

Giving his evidence, Julia’s former boyfriend Bradley Murchie said he had driven David Murphy in David’s silver Ford Falcon to Julia’s house that night after drinking at his birthday party.

Mr Murchie said he heard a phone call between Julia and her parents, and she had sounded scared, distressed.

“David wanted to make things clear that Tynan was to stay away from my daughter. No (there was) nothing physical,” he said.

“He just said that (Vital) had to leave his daughter alone.”

Mr Murchie said they arrived and saw a ute leaving and, “I went after it”.

The court heard their intention was to pull the driver over and for David to say to leave his daughter alone. He denied there had been any intention to assault Vital.

It is alleged they followed the ute, Mr Murchie saying it stopped twice but each time David Murphy got out of his car to walk to it the ute would drive off.

The third time it stopped (in The Promenade) Mr Murchie said he pulled up next to it but denied trying to block it in.

“I jumped out. I think he hit a tree or something. He wasn’t going anywhere,” Mr Murchie said.

Mr Edwards questioned Mr Murchie about seeing Ethan Macpherson at the scene that night.

“You said you saw him with a gun,” Mr Edwards said.

“It was pitch black, I didn’t know it was Ethan,” Mr Murchie said.

“Yes when I got out of the car. Pointing it at me I knew it was a gun.

“When he was standing under a light pointing the gun I didn’t know it was Ethan.

“Not until later in the confrontation. I didn’t know his (Vital’s) passenger was Ethan.

“I’m trying to remember it mate. I was in shock. I was rushed to hospital as I’d just witnessed a murder,” he said explaining that he was trying his best to be honest and recall the incidents that evening.

Mr Murchie said he had to swerve around the person holding the gun. And did not know why he then stopped despite seeing a person with a gun, “No idea”.

“Didn’t you yell out gun, gun, he has a gun,” Mr Edwards asked.

“Did you hear David Murphy say go on shoot me?”

Mr Murchie agreed that he approached the ute where Vital was seated and began punching him through the open window.

He recalled Vital had one leg out the window trying to kick him away.

“I was throwing punches,” he said.

He said his arm got stuck in the window when Vital wound it up and then reversed the ute which then hit something and stopped.

“My hand was stuck and I couldn’t do anything,” he said.

Mr Murchie said he was assaulted after he came back down the street from the ute and had an altercation with Ethan Macpherson.

“You were assaulted,” Mr Edwards suggested.

“Yes,” Mr Murchie said, saying he believed he was hit by a baseball bat.

He said both males then ran to the ute and he saw David Murphy lying on the ground beside the car.

Mr Murchie was asked about what he wrote in online Facebook posts in April 2020 stating “I kept landing jab after jab on your f***ing head. I f***ing flogged you c**t. You used a baseball bat and gun I still punched a hole in your f***ing head”.

“I said that in an open Facebook post. This was talked up”, Mr Murchie said.

Mr Edwards queried him about more comments he was said to have written that stated “next time don’t bring weapons c**t so I can smash you to a f***ing pulp c**t.”
Mr Murchie said there had been a ’hostile status’ post online that anyone could comment on.

“Kynan hosted the post that was directed at me,” he said.

He agreed he also wrote “see you in court maggot f**king bitch”

The committal hearing continues on Thursday with more witnesses.