Bradley Bell faces Brisbane Supreme Court trial for murder of Kelly Wilkinson
The man accused of driving Brian Earl Johnston to the home of his estranged wife on the day of her tragic death is on trial for her murder.
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The man accused of driving Brian Earl Johnston to the home where he killed his estranged wife told police he was offered $1000 to take him there, a jury has heard.
Mother-of-three Kelly Wilkinson was stabbed repeatedly by her estranged husband Johnston at her Gold Coast residence on April 20, 2021, before being doused in petrol and set alight.
Bradley Bell, 29, is accused of being a party to Ms Wilkinson’s death by driving Johnston to the scene of the crime on the morning of her death.
The Brisbane Supreme Court was told on day one of Bell’s trial on Monday that Bell had heard Johnston say that he wanted to kill his wife on multiple occasions in the week leading up to her death.
Bell has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder. Throughout the trial, the jury will hear recordings of Bell’s interviews with police, in which he says Johnston had expressed to him wanting to “tie her (Ms Wilkinson) up and burn her”.
Bell and Johnston had been co-workers at Axo Group in Coomera. They had driven past Ms Wilkinson’s house on the evening of April 19 to “check things out”, before driving back about 3.37am the next morning, the court was told.
The jury heard they had stopped at a petrol station to pick up a jerry can of fuel on their way, which Johnston later used to douse Ms Wilkinson.
Crown prosecutor David Nardone said the main question for the jury to consider was whether Bell believed Johnston was going to kill Ms Wilkinson when he dropped him off that morning.
He told the jury during his opening submissions that Bell initially neglected to tell police that he had driven Johnston to the scene of the crime. But in a later interview, Bell told police Johnston had offered him $1000 to drive him to Ms Wilkinson’s house, Mr Nardone said.
Defence barrister Ed Whitton told the jury they would hear an explanation from his client during the trial as to why he said those things to police.
“There will be two sides to this story by the time this trial is finished,” he said.
On the first day of trial, the jury heard evidence from four witnesses, as well as Bell’s initial statement to police on April 22, 2021, in which he said he had been “sick” of hearing about Johnston’s marriage breakdown.
Johnston had been charged with four counts of rape relating to Ms Wilkinson just eight days before her death, the court was told.
“He kept saying how they had been married for nine years and how did anyone think he would do that, and that he wouldn’t ever hurt a fly or lay a hand on his wife,” Bell’s statement read. It also said the Johnston Bell knew in 2021 was very different from the “happy outgoing guy” he first met in 2019, who “always spoke about his wife in a good way and how he loved her”.
The trial is expected to continue into next week.
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